Fateful moments
by Chris Kenworthy
Summary: Loose threads start to tie up when Tess asks Alex to translate the book.
1. Chapter 1

Fateful moments

Chapter One

By Chris Kenworthy

Shipper warning: Rest assured that a happy ending for our favorite dream couple will be in the offing before the end of the series. Stargazers and Candypeople have no reason to fear here.

(Isabel):

I didn't look up when the bell attached to the front door of the Crashdown cafe rang out. I didn't pay attention to the footsteps crossing the dining room to my table. To be honest, I only barely twigged when he said my name.

"Huh?" As I looked up, my eyes slowly coaxed each other into focus. "Alex??" A second's pause to make sure it was he. "Alex! How did your studying go?"

"Let's not bother with the lame excuse, Isabel," Alex said, dropping casually to the chair opposite mine. "I think we both know I wasn't studying for any big Robert Frost test tonight."

"Then..." I glanced away to check the clock. Twenty-five after eleven in the evening. Somehow it all fell into place.

"You wanted to see if I'd wait here all night, just on the off chance that you'd come by?" Alex nodded slowly. "Well, I'm here, aren't I??" I couldn't possibly have admitted that I *had* lost hope that he'd show up, but had been too tired by then to move, could I? Besides, that wasn't entirely the point.

"Yeah, you're here," Alex agreed with a smile. "And so am I, now." He reached out and took my hand into his, and somehow that simple touch took my breath away more than any kiss in my life.

"You know that I'm crazy about you, I know," Alex said, looking deep into my eyes. "And you know that it's burned me. If you want to start something up again, I have to know that it isn't going to be like before."

Oh, no. Somehow I knew that I was not really in the right state of mind to be making a solid commitment. But it would totally ruin the moment, and maybe more, to admit that to Alex. Plus... well, hadn't I worked this out to myself already?? 'Being of sound mind and body...' as the saying went, I had decided to pursue things with Alex, and I was *not* the kind of girl to make a decision like that lightly. So... yes, I would trust my own judgement now, while I was *not* of definitely sound mind. "I know, Alex. I know that you've been there for me ever since you've come into my life, and I want to be there for you. I want to always be there for you." Oh, god, I was repeating song lyrics now. Time to shut up, Isabel.

Alex seemed to have come to the same decision. He scooched over from the chair to sit on the long bench beside me, wrapping one arm around my shoulders and brushing a locks of hair out of my face with the other.

'Kiss me,' I mouthed silently to him. I felt like I was always making the first move and kissing Alex. This time, I wanted to be the kiss-ee.

He did.

It's funny how the things that end up changing the course of your life happen to you when you're not expecting them. Well, you'll see what I mean.

-------

(Tess):

Mrs. Evans smiled politely and turned away to call up the stairs: "Max! Tess is here to see you." Max appeared quickly enough, smiled when he saw me, and soon enough, the two of us were sitting alone in the Evans family den.

Before I could begin, Max blurted out what had obviously once been a carefully prepared speech. "Tess, I don't think we should jump into anything. Yeah, I know the 'moment' we had at the prom was intense, and I do have feelings for you, but it was really such a long time ago that I fell in love with you, and so much has changed and everything's complicated now. So, to sum up, I think we should take a break before..."

"That's nice to know," I broke in, "but I didn't come here tonight to talk about us. Well, not 'you-and-me' us, at any rate. I..." I didn't have strength to form the words any more, so I just tossed the computer printouts over to Max without a word of explanation.

He picked them up and browsed through each sheet slowly. "Tess, what's all this about??" he asked once he had gone through the full cycle.

"It's an article I printed out off the Web," I explained slowly. "About these 'Quantum' computers they have down at the University of New Mexico in Las Cruces and how they've been using them to break codes and decipher unknown languages."

"Yeah, I got that much," Max clarified with a shake of his head. "What I'm missing is the reason you're showing them to me."

Is Max really that dense or is he just playing dumb?? I let his statement hang in the air for long seconds, trying to figure out which. "I thought it would be obvious," I finally said. "We have a book written in an unknown language, or at least a language that no-one we can trust seems to understand. A book that hopefully holds the answers to a lot of our questions, if we could decipher it."

Max nodded slowly. "Are you proposing that we go up to Las Cruces and ask the computer scientists if they want to translate our alien book?"

I shook my head at him. "No, mister Devil's advocate, of course not! I'm proposing that we find a way to use those computers and translate it ourselves!!"

There it was. Max nodded. "Okay. Well, leaving to one side the practical issues involved in faking our way into a research project at a major state University... there's the question of how to actually use these machines. I mean, I know my way around windows, but I'm pretty sure that a quantum cryptography computer is way over my head. Yours too."

"I know," I conceded. "But I'm not sure it's over the head of some of your friends..."

-------

(Alex):

"So..." Tess Harding said, staring right at me. "Can you do it?"

"Can I do *what*, exactly??" I countered, looking from her to Max and Isabel. "I can follow the code listings that were included with this article." I tapped the magazine that Tess had wished upon me. "But they were obviously chosen and simplified to be read by average... college students. Whether I could actually use these quantum computers... well, there's really no way to know ahead of time. Speaking of which... do you have any ideas as far as actually getting *into* this project?"

"We're working on that," Max said, sharing a glance with Isabel and Tess. "If we figure out a way, will you go in??"

I looked over at Isabel myself. "Are you sure you really *want* to know what this book says about you??" I know it didn't work this way really, but subconsciously I tend to blame the damn 'Book' for the Michael/Isabel stuff last spring and Isabel's pregnancy scare.

She reacted to the question like she'd been burned, for an instant, which surprised me. What was Isabel scared of finding out? But after letting that reaction pass, she nodded seriously. "We *have* to understand where we came from. You can understand that, can't you??"

I looked over at Max, and he nodded in agreement. "Then I'll do everything I can, of course."

"Any idea what it would TAKE to become a part of a research project like that?" Isabel asked in an aside.

"I dunno," I admitted. "Aside from stumbling upon a key formula or equation that they need... and what are the chances of that??"

"Well, you never know," Max said with a soft laugh. "Can you find out more about what they're doing from here in Roswell? Maybe something that they might need??"

I wasn't sure I wanted to know what Max was planning. "I should be able to."

Tess smiled at me. "Thanks again for all of this, Alex."

Then someone came close to our table, and the subject of conversation beat a hasty retreat to the lunch menu.

-------

(Maria):

So... I was sitting in the dining room after school, working on some stupid geography term paper, when the doorbell rang. As I got up to answer the door, I wondered who it could be. Michael was on shift at the Crash right now... and that pretty much finished the list of usual suspects, not that Spaceboy is especially big on ringing doorbells.

I wasn't quite prepared to see Jim Valenti out there when I peeked out of the little window set into the front door. As I opened up said door, he did a double take and put something small and dark back into his jacket pocket.

"Oh... hey Maria! Is yer mom around?"

"No, Mister Valenti," I said, shaking my head for emphasis. "She's down in Hondo all day, meeting with a prospective client. Should I leave her a note on the bulletin board that you dropped by?"

"Yes, thank..." Valenti caught himself in mid-phrase. "Actually, Miss DeLuca, I'd consider myself much obliged if you did no such thing." He must have been able to tell how surprised I was. "You know, keep this just between you and me for now." And with a tip of the hat he wasn't wearing today, he headed off back down our front stairs.

"Okay, that was weird," I muttered as I closed the door and headed back into the living room. My geography stuff was still strewn across the dining room table, but I couldn't focus on that right now. Valenti comes by, not knowing that Mom is out of town, and doesn't want me to tell her he was here. Well, *why* didn't he know she would be gone. This trip wasn't a secret or anything... Mom was excited about maybe getting some more business. So... had he intentionally not said anything about today? That seemed to fit in with the rest of the secret-ey stuff.

Then there was that mysterious thing Valenti had tried to hide when I opened the door. Looked like a tiny black box. And there was a third thing that was bugging me about Valenti's visit. (Or had I counted up to four?)

Then that last clue hit me, and with it the answer to this minor mystery: Valenti had been *flexing one knee* before I opened the door!!

I took off like a shot, geography homework forgotten. I have no memories of locking the front door behind me, though I later found out that I had -- guess that just to show you how things become second nature. Anyway, aside from some blurry imagery of dashing down the streets of Roswell in a mad panic, the next thing I recall is bursting through the kitchen door of the cafe and puffing over to the grill, where Michael had stopped flipping galaxy melts and was staring at me like I was a crazy lady.

Well, by this point I was *way* too worked up to worry about playing into type. After checking to make sure that no one else was around, I burst out with "Mister Valenti is about to ask my mom to marry him!!"

Spaceboy paused and let that news sink in for a moment. "So??" was his first response. "I mean, you like Jim, right?? Heck, *I* like Jim... and considering he was the sheriff up until two months ago and was at one point crusading to expose me as an alien... goes to show you that he's an okay guy."

"Yeah, I know that he's an okay guy!" I replied, trying desperately to keep my voice below shriek level. "But that isn't enough when we're talking about *marriage* here!"

"It isn't?"

"God, no! They aren't serious enough to be thinking of marriage. I mean... yeah, they've been on and off for a little more than a year, but that's exactly my point! They've never acted like it was anything more than a casual thing. And I think it's a little more than co-incidence that James Valenti junior, career lawman, has lost his job when he suddenly comes to the decision to remarry. It's like he's on the rebound from his career, and everybody knows you should NEVER jump into big commitments on the rebound. Lastly... well, this is a little selfish, but my mom's just getting by, and the way Kyle tells it, the Valenti family is sinking fast." I sighed. "It's horrible to say it, I know, but I don't want to get dragged down with him."

Michael was smiling and shaking his head. "What??" I barked at him.

"Well... I hate to say it, but don't you think you might be over-reacting, just a bit??"

"No!! I mean... well, think how everybody would react if they found out that WE were getting married!! That's really what it would be like."

"But they're not 'getting married' yet," Michael said. Wait a second - since when does Michael get to be the voice of reason?? "You say that you think Valenti is going to ask, but your mom hasn't said yes. She's a pretty together lady, deep down. If there are that many reasons that it's a bad idea, she'll..." And then he trailed off.

"Yeah, she'll *what*, exactly?" I cracked back, and sighed. "Tell him no, puncture his ego and drive him away forever??"

"Well... she might be able to find some way to squelch it short of that," Michael mumbled feebly.

"Plus..." I sighed. "Amy DeLuca might be a 'pretty together lady'... I'd like to think so. But she's starting to creep up on the big four oh... a single mother with a wild and crazy teenage daughter..." make a silly face, "and she's been lonely for a long time, I know. There's a lot of reasons she might jump at Valenti's offer that don't necessarily make it a good idea."

"Oh, damn it, wait a second..." Michael flipped over a burger and looked at it critically. "Orders up!!" He slapped two patties that had a little too much black on them by *my* standards into buns and took it over to the dining room window. "Agnes, orders up!!" He shook his head, took an order slip from the window, and started putting some unsuspecting Crashdown customer's food on to cook. "What makes you think that a popping of the question is imminent anyway?"

I opened his mouth to explain, then stopped short. "You'd better not make fun of me for this, Guerin."

"I make no guarantees."

"He was flexing his right knee before I opened the door, he put what looked like a jewellery box in his jacket when he saw it was me, and he didn't want me to tell my mom that he had stopped by." I could see a broad smile fighting to get to Michael's face. "Fine, don't believe me. In fact, I'll bet you... that we find out he WAS going to ask my mom to marry him if she was at the house today."

"I didn't say I didn't believe you!!" Michael quickly disclaimed.

"Then why were you almost laughing??"

He stepped in close to me and leaned down to kiss me on the forehead. "Because you're so cute when you play the little detective, DeLuca."

Nothing had prepared me for that. "Oh."

"So... maybe you should give Kyle a heads-up on your little theory," Michael went on. "See if he can find any corroborating evidence. Plus, if you're right... I'm sure he's gonna need all the advance warning he can get about becoming your step-brother."

I laughed a little at the notion. "Maybe later." I hopped up onto an empty table. "For now, I think I like it right here. So, did you hear about Alex and Isabel??"

"Oh, my god. She couldn't shut up about it today at school..."

-------

(Max):

After carefully loading up a tray with items that seemed not too likely to upset the palate, I looked for a place to sit in the crowded West Roswell cafeteria.

Oh, there was Maria! And Kyle, and Tess, and quite a few empty seats near them. I headed over to the nearest, which happened to be next to Tess. "Hey, guys, what's up?"

Maria got up quickly, shot me a cross look, and stalked off. "Ouch," I whispered. Since the fallout from prom, I've gotten the impression that Maria is intentionally boycotting Tess and I, as people in the same vicinity. If I'm walking to class with Tess and say hello to Maria, she ignores me, and pretends that nothing's wrong later. Yesterday Maria and I were hanging out in the quad, talking about new CDs we were excited to listen to, when Tess came up, waved hi, and sat down on the other end of Maria's bench without interrupting us. A sentence later, Maria says she has to go and walks away. This was the first time I'd seen her with Tess since the whole thing started, but otherwise it fit the pattern perfectly.

I was losing patience with the routine. I understand that Maria is Liz's best friend, but if she has a problem with Tess and me she should say something, not play elaborate games of cold shoulder. I mean, I don't know whether anything is happening between Tess and I, or if it will, or if I want it to. But I'm pretty sure it's between me and Tess, not anybody else's business. Not even Liz's, by this point.

"You'll have to excuse Maria, she's a little upset right now," Kyle mumbled through his sloppy Joe, startling me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, I know," I agreed, starting in on my own lunch.

"Really?" Tess piped up, flashing me a brief and friendly smile. "Who told you about it?"

"Well, I guess no-one really told me," I said, surprised at the question. "It wasn't very difficult to guess what was bugging her."

Kyle gave me a doubtful look, and then jumped a little in realization. "Max, we're talking about my Dad maybe asking Maria's mom to marry him. Is that what you're talking about?"

I blinked in surprise. "Well, no." I guess I had jumped to conclusions, maybe the me-Tess thing wasn't the *only* reason why Maria ran off so fast. "Umm... excuse me for asking, but just why is this upsetting news? I mean, Jim and Amy make a great couple. I'm..." I trailed off uncertainly.

"Yeah, she's a good influence on my Dad," Kyle allowed. "But Maria's pointed out a lot of problems with the situation that probably escaped the notice of our dearly dating parental units. There's the financial situation, practical issues... and I'm just not that wild about having Maria for my sister."

"I'm not even sure where I'd fit into this happy little family," Tess pointed out.

"Where would we all live?" Kyle ranted. "Both the DeLuca's house and ours are tiny little two-bedrooms, no way a total of five people could move into either of them. And the real estate market in Roswell sucks for any kind of trade-up."

"Hey, I've got an idea," Tess said, grinning at Kyle. "Amy can move into Jim's room, you can take your own back, and Maria and I can live together in the DeLuca house. It'd be like a sorority of two."

"They would *never* let either of you get away with that," Kyle chuckled.

"Hey," I said, struck by a sudden thought. "What happened to the house Ed Harding bought in Roswell last year? I guess I kinda forgot about it."

Tess blinked in surprise, and told me that the house actually hadn't been foreclosed on yet, mostly because there was still money in Ed's accounts that she had used to make the payments. I suggested that someone should mention that to Jim Valenti if the engagement actually did happen, just to see what he thought.

"Yeah," Tess agreed softly. "Well, that's enough family finance for me. Who has another topic for conversation?"

------------

(Tess):

"I still say it could work," I insisted fiercely as we walked through the alley gate into Valenti's back yard.

"C'mon Tess," Max sighed. "Just think about it. How many people you'd have to mind warp to convince everybody that counted that Alex was some... some computing teenage genius visiting from another university. You know that I have nothing but the highest respect for your talents, but large numbers and forced repetition on different individuals over a short time period are your biggest weaknesses. You told me so yourself."

I had to admit that Max was right, which was so annoying because my plan would have been *SO* cool, if it could have worked. "Okay then, what's your angle?" We were inside now, and I looked around to see if anyone else was about, even though the chances of anyone being here in the Valenti house who wasn't in on the secret were slim to none.

But as it happened, there was no one around at all. Except for Max and me. I always liked the sound of that. Nevertheless, and Max chewed over his answer I started leading the way up to my room, both in case Jim brought Amy home and, well, for the sake of the atmosphere.

"I dunno, I just think that we need to bring these people something real," Max decided. "Something that they need. Then we can lie through our teeth about how we got it if we need to... quite frankly I'm not sure if they'd even care."

"So what, we find some poor guy - or girl for that matter - who invented a gizmo that the university geeks need, and scam her or him out of it? Without even letting that person know that they were being scammed? Or maybe we can just whip um an electromagnetic processing booster with our alien powers."

"It doesn't have to be a tangible 'thing', like hardware," Max corrected. "Maybe just an idea." He sighed. "I know, it isn't much of a plan, yet, but I'm all planned out." He dropped down into the small armchair I'd bought last month, while I crossed my legs lotus-style on the bed.

"Well, I've got a new topic," I said, taking a deep breath to nerve myself up. "A few days ago... the night I came to you with all this Quantum project stuff, in fact, you told me that we were riding off of high emotions from the dance, and that we should take a break, or something like that. When do we get off of break?" I tried to smile innocently at him.

Just as I had been afraid of, Max's face twisted into an awkward attempt at a smile. "Ehh..." was the only sound that came out of him.

"That's not really something that a girl wants to hear," I teased him.

Max smiled again, this time more naturally. "Okay, Tess, here's the thing. You know that I like you. All other things being equal, I think I'd probably say sure, let's jump in and give it a try. See if we *really* have true love waiting for us or not."

I took a second to digest this. "'All other things being equal.' Why do I get the feeling that that's just a euphemism for 'if there wasn't something else'?"

"Because you know me well by now," Max agreed, shaking his head. "Well, let's forget the euphemism. There IS someone else. Tess, I've already found true love, and I'm not ready to give up on it yet."

"Even though for most of a year, Liz Parker has done nothing but run away from you or push you away?"

"Even though," he confirmed. "I think love can be a scary thing as well as a beautiful one, and movies have taught us that the big love tends to bring big obstacles with it." Max laughed very softly. "To be honest, I don't know exactly what Liz is scared of - I haven't been able to get her to tell me. And that's beside the point. I'm not ready to walk away from what we had. And that means I'm not ready to start anything with you, despite what we did at Prom. That was probably already crossing the line, especially considering who caught us kissing."

Now this was news to me. I didn't know that anyone had walked in on Max and me, which meant that whoever it was had left without making a scene. Not Maria, then. Liz herself? I couldn't be sure, and didn't want to ask Max.

"Can you accept where I'm coming from, Tess?" Max asked softly, probably misunderstanding what I was thinking about.

"Yeah, yeah I can," I assured him quietly. "I'd be lying if I told you it was what I wanted to hear, but I can understand. I hope you don't take offence to the comparison, but it sounds like how I feel whenever someone implies that I should give up on what I feel for you." I forced a deep breath, as if making sure that my system didn't rebel against me and wither away despite what I was about to say. "So go ahead and take all the time that you need, Max. If you..." Breathe, damn it... BREATHE!! "If you and Liz get everything sorted out, I'll... try to find some way to be happy for the two of you. If not... well, this may be beyond obvious, but I'll be waiting."

Max smiled a little sadly. He could see how much this was tearing me up inside, and I think that hurt him too, but he was damned and determined to follow through on what he had told me. Somehow, I actually think I admired that, crazy as that sounds. "Thanks, Tess. Your... blessing... means a lot to me, for this." He stood up and looked around nervously. "I should probably go now."

"Yeah. Th-thanks for stopping by." Try as I might, I couldn't keep the quiver out of my voice. The sarcasm was mostly purposeful.

"Are you sure?" Max asked. "You're going to be okay??"

My heart, as torture-tested as it was from this whole conversation, melted a little at the simple concern in his voice, and for a second I wanted to tell him anything just so he would stay and be nice to me. Play hard on the vulnerability card, maybe, and see if I could use that to maybe even change his mind. The 'better judgement' category vetoed that plan, though. I treasured the respect I've earned from Max this spring too much to risk it all on a foolish caper like that. Better to get him out of here before my willpower cracks, though. "Yeah, go on with yah," I called, waving him out of the bedroom and trying my best to force a smile.

He left, without another word, and I collapsed back onto the bed, trying not to break down in tears. Somehow... the whole damned scene... I meant what I had said, but I felt -- I don't know. I wanted to go find Kyle and kiss him like he's never been kissed before. 'Trim his lamp' maybe, even. But there were two problems with that. One... Kyle thinks of me as a little sister now, apparently, and two, whatever my chances with Max are, they'd go down two notches if he found out that I was hitting on other guys so soon after we had this talk.

I don't know, I guess I just wanted to feel... desirable. Flirting with Kyle always used to be good for that, especially when Max got that moony look in his eye, talking about Elizabeth Sara Parker... well, that was out. And I really didn't *want* to go trolling for guys just so I could feel hot, if it came to that. I just... wanted this to hurt less.

I rolled over and started fantasizing about other worlds, and other lifetimes.

-------------

(Liz):

I had been talking to Alex, about this Quantum computer business, (not that I could help him out with that much,) and then wandering, a little aimlessly, ever since I left his place. I didn't want to go home yet, but where else to? Not Max's house, for obvious reasons.

So I found myself walking past the DeLuca house, and muttered to myself "Why not?" Maria had probably gone over to Michael's apartment after her shift ended, but Sean might be around.

Sean DeLuca. I still wasn't quite sure how I felt about him. Was he a rebound guy or something more? Well, in any event, given that Max and Tess were busy making plans to translate their little book, I felt like tonight was a fine moment to do a little rebounding.

Mrs DeLuca showed me in - thought that I was calling for Maria at first, and then sent me out in the garage, because Sean was working on something with his car. Sean was happy to see me, face all smeared with brown and black stuff, and we flirted a little and talked about car trouble, and about plans for the future, in general terms. He even mocked me with an imitation of that time last week, before the prom, when I flipped out on him and said my life was falling apart - after I saw Tess in Max's room, sitting with him on his bed, and hugging him. He actually got me giggling at myself.

After we'd talked for a bit, he said that he wasn't going to get any more done with the car that night, so we went back to the house, and he immediately started washing up, which made me feel a bit awkward. He asked me to fetch a clean t-shirt out of his bag in the living room, which I was happy to leave for, but when I got back, who should I find but Max! Awkwardness squared, at least.

"Max!!!" I almost launched the shirt towards the ceiling in my surprise. "What are you... why... how..."

"I've been looking for you," Max Evans said softly in that understated yet intense way he talked sometimes. My heart swelled with some kind of emotion that I couldn't put my finger on at the time. **Dammit, heart, now is not the time.** As if to underscore that fact, Max glanced significantly in the direction of shirtless Sean, not asking for an explanation, just noticing.

Belatedly I tossed the blue shirt the short distance into Sean's waiting arms. "Thanks," he said while scrambling into it. "Feels good to be at least halfway clean after all that grease and grime."

"Mrs. Deluca let me in," Max commented in the awkward silence. "Said if I was looking for Liz, I should try looking for her in the garage with Sean."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here," I blurted out, then realized it was an iffy case since that had been a direct quote. Oh, well. "Sean was fixing his car when I came, but then he called a break to come in here and get cleaned up."

"Umm... okay," Max said after a moment, and then turned to me. "Liz, I need to discuss something important with you. Alone."

I looked at Sean, and he was shooting me a concerned look, like 'If you don't wanna waste your time with this guy, just say the word and I'll show him da door.' I almost laughed out loud.

"Okay," I started, hoping it was a clear enough agreement to call Sean off. "Well, should we... I dunno, step into the back yard or something??"

Right then, the doorbell rang faintly, (hmm, why hadn't we heard it from here when Max came to the door? Oh, yeah, the running water would probably have downed it out. Or draining water, yeah, that fit the timing better.) Amy Deluca's voice called from up the stairs "Hey, could one of you kids get that? I'll be down in a minute."

"I've got it," Sean said, pushing politely between Max and I. (Boy, how's that for symbolism?) "At least I'm temporarily part of this household."

Max shot me a look and nodded his head both towards the back and front of the house. I shrugged and pointed in the direction of the front door. No sense in going off to have our talk in private if whoever had come to the front door was looking for one of us. Given the pattern of visitors to the Deluca house so far tonight, that seemed more than likely.

By the time we got to the front hall, Sean had already opened the door, revealing Jim Valenti on the other side. "Well, hello Sean. Is your Aunt in?"

"Yeah, Mister Valenti. Said she'd be down in a minute. Won't you come in?" Sean backed away from the door, and I could see that he was smiling broadly. Max seemed to be trying to hide a goofy grin. What was going on here?

"Thank you." Jim stepped inside, closing the door, and noticed Max and I standing there. "Mister Evans, Miss Parker?" His polite nod seemed forced.

It was at this point that Mrs. Deluca appeared at the top of the long open staircase in the front hall, still wearing the casual clothes that I had seen her in earlier - a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers. Her face practically shone when she caught sight of her most recent visitor. "Jim!! What are you doing here?"

"I have something to ask you," Valenti replied, still shifting nervously. "C'mon down here before my nerves give out."

A puzzled but intrigued look on her face, Mrs. Deluca hurried down the stairs. "Should we make ourselves scarce?" Sean whispered over in a voice that only Max and I could even notice.

"Only if one of them asks," Max murmured back. "I'd rather not miss this moment if I don't have to." It was definite - both of them knew something about what was going on that I didn't.

"Amy," Valenti started as she stepped down the last stair, taking one of her hands lightly in his. "I think you know that I... how much you mean to me, Amy, and it's something that I've had trouble saying for a lot of years now. But I've had a lot of time to rethink my life and my priorities, and I've come to the decision that I always did best when I let my actions speak for me."

There was a slight pause, and I think Amy and I might have realized what was going on at the same moment. "I know that I don't have much to offer you any more, except for everything that I feel about you, but I know that we could make it work with half of that." All of a sudden, James Valenti the second was down on one knee, an opened jewel box in his hand. "I know that we've both been down the road of marriage before, and had our hearts broken for our trouble, but when you love someone as much as I love you, you don't let something lie that stop you. Will you marry me, Amy??"

She was stunned speechless for a few seconds, and then a resolved look crossed her face. "Yes. Oh, yes, Jim. I would be DELIGHTED... and *honoured*... to become your wife." Tears were streaming down her cheeks, and Valenti stood back up and kissed her sweetly on the lips. Once the tender clinch was done, with one arm still wrapped around Valenti, Amy stretched out her left hand towards the jewel box, third finger widely separated from its neighbors. Jim did the honours.

"It's gorgeous, Jim," she said, examining the token of his love. "Where on earth did you get it? I mean..." She trailed off - we all knew what she meant. The Valenti extended family had just been getting by ever since he had been fired by the city council.

"It was the ring that Grandpa-ray gave my Nona," he whispered back, or at least I think that was it. "I tracked down my Aunt Bethany and she agreed that you should have it, since you're going to become part of our family."

It was at that point that Max stepped up towards the happy couple, right hand stretched out. "Congratulations. Mrs Deluca." Amy extricated herself from her new fiancée just enough to accept Max's congratulatory handshake. "Mister Valenti. I wish you all the happiness in the world. No-one deserves it more than you guys." After the handshake with Valenti ended, Max paused and then said casually, "Have you thought at all about where you're going to live after you're married?"

-------

Amy was able to put together a nice little spur-of-the-moment engagement party. Grape soda, little powdered donuts, and cashews were the refreshments. Amy called over to Michael's apartment to tell Maria to come home, and Michael came over too, to congratulate the happy couple, and Jim invited Kyle and Tess over as well.

When the party was over, Amy had realized how late it was and was insisting that everyone who didn't live in her house get driven straight home. But Max made this impassioned plea about how he had come over there in the first place to find me and talk to me about something extremely important. Finally Mrs. Deluca relented, though she said that she's driving us home as soon as we're done and she's not letting us off her property in the meantime. So that's why I'm sitting on a wooden bench in the DeLuca backyard. Amy is probably calling my parents and Max's right now 'so they don't worry.' Valenti took drive-home duty for Michael and his own crew.

I sat down on the wooden bench with a bit of a thump. "Okay, Max, what's this thing that it's so important we talk about?" He stayed silent at me for a second, staring at me so intently with those deep, gorgeous brown eyes...

"I'm not quite sure where to start."

"At the beginning is traditional," I pointed out. "Some might say it's become cliche, but I don't hold with that." I was getting a little giddy and struggled to control it, since Max had obviously gone to a lot of effort to set up a venue for a serious conversation.

"I don't think I need to tell you about the beginning, do I?" Max said, smiling slightly. "You were there, after all."

Oh. So it was going to be another one of THESE conversations. God, I don't think I have the energy to figure out a new way of turning Max down. "Max..."

He must have been able to read the tone in my voice. "Don't... just don't, okay? At least let me babble on until I think I've said most of what I need to say." He took a deep breath and spun around with his hands in his pockets before locking his eyes onto my face again. "I can't let you go, Liz."

"That doesn't'..." I started, but Max cut me off.

"It has to," Max insisted. "It *has* to change things. Doesn't it? I... I have to get us back, the way that we used to be. How do I do that??"

"Maybe you can't," I answered with a sigh.

"I've called things off with Tess..."

"Oh god, Max, no..."

"What do you want from me??" he exploded. "I mean... you can't stand Tess... that's clear. And yet you keep pushing me towards her. Which means that you're pushing me out of your life too, because it's clear that nothing could ever be the same between us if I really did get together with Tess, not that that's..."

I groaned and looked up into his eyes. "Max... you *belong* with Tess, not with me. It tears me up inside, but I know that that's what's right."

"WHO ARE YOU..." Max's eyes were staring right through me, "TO MAKE THAT DECISION???"

That stopped me for a second, I mean, obviously I had no right myself to force one interpretation of Max's destiny on him. And even Future Max's decision... well, how long did I have to hold onto that? It had been six months since he had come, and gone. Six months since the timeline had changed.

No... I still had to stay the course. Unless I could be almost certain that something meaningful had changed. I looked up and realized that Max was staying silent too, an awkward pause surrounding the both of us.

"Max, I'm sorry, I don't have any right to decide your life for you, but..."

He cut me off. "I've told Tess that I can't go any further with her... not until you and I settle things, and when I say 'settle', I don't mean you arguing me out of this. At least give us one more chance, Liz." He reached out a hand to me.

Something odd struck me about that. "You told Tess... how did she take it??"

Max made a face. "Well, she wasn't particularly happy, as you might guess, but she accepted it. She said if we worked everything out, she'd try her best to be happy for us."

Somehow, that got to me, as nothing else Max had said got to me. I hated that, but there it was. If Tess had really come to terms with the concept of us... did that mean that Max and I could get back together without driving her away from the group? Was this the 'something changed' that I had been looking for??

Max groaned again. "WHY does Tess' opinion mean more to our relationship than mine does??" he complained, obviously seeing a tiny bit of what I was feeling in my face.

"It's not that," I sighed. "For one thing, your opinion has never been that much in doubt. But Tess... well, she's your wife, or she was. If we are going through with this, it will have to be with her understanding and acceptance. That's the least respect I can pay to your marriage vows, even in a weird situation like this."

"Don't lie to me," Max whispered. "You were never very good at it."

"Okay, then I won't!!" I flared. "But then don't ask me for the truth, because that is something that I can't tell you. As far as what you wanted to talk to me about, you and me... I'll think about it, okay? That's as much as I can promise at this point; it's been a long day and a long night. I may want to talk to Tess about it too."

"Okay," Max said, nodding slowly. "Be discreet with her about it though, okay?? I hurt her pride some tonight, I think, and forcing her to repeat some big declaration of surrender to you could be even worse."

"Well, duh," I sighed, though that was a mental image I'd have to revisit later as a fantasy. I stood up.

"Can I ask you one last thing before we go inside and Amy drives us home??" Max asked.

I tried to hide a smile, guessing what was coming. "Ask."

"One kiss."

A part of me was telling me I shouldn't, yet, but I couldn't refuse Max that... or myself, to tell the truth. I stepped into his arms and his lips came down to meet mine, softly and sweetly.

FLASH. It was... it was myself, with short hair and wearing some kind of leather outfit, watching Max who seemed to be inside a giant inverted cone... that was future max! Was I... watching Future max go back in time using the granilith? Watching future myself watch him go??

The kiss broke. I couldn't help but ask... if Max had happened to see the same thing I had, he would have questions. "Did you... did you get a flash??"

"I was seeing you and Kyle, all over again." Max's voice was hurt. "Why should I still be seeing that?" He took a deep breath. "You??"

"Umm..." Quick, think of something. "You in the white room."

Max sighed again. "Okay, let's go."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

(Max):

"Okay, um, thank you all for coming," Alex said quietly. We were all gathered around a picnic table near the barbecue joint out near the highway... the same one that Michael, Isabel and I had been occupying when I told them that I'd let Liz in on our secret, I suddenly realized. The very table. We came back to this place every so often. Of course, the table was a lot more crowded today. "I, um, assume that we're all familiar with the objective."

"'...Make an ass out of you and me,'" Kyle quoted succinctly. "I dunno about anyone else, but I for one have no clue what I'm doing here. As usual."

Tess jumped in to remedy that. She was sitting next to Kyle, having made no attempt to get remotely near me when we were taking our places - more like the opposite. Not typical for her, but probably predictable considering what I told her yesterday evening. "It's about the Book. Remember... remember the time I took you to the library?"

"Umm... yeah, actually," Kyle said, blushing a little, undoubtedly remembering that day. I had the uncomfortable feeling that I might be flushing a little myself - Liz and I had gone to spy on Tess and that Kyle for that trip; Liz had argued that the only reason that Tess would have chosen to go anywhere with Kyle was to get our attention, to send a signal to me. She had done that: I could still remember Tess there in the library, standing on top of a chair in the last stack, Kyle steadying her from the ground, as unseen to him she reached into a hidden handprint and brought out the Book.

"We can't read it, but we think it holds some of the answers we need," Tess explained. "There are these big crypto-super-computers in Las Cruces that can supposedly translate unknown languages - if he can get them, Alex may be able to use them to translate the book."

"I might be able," Alex corrected Tess with a smile. "But first, I would need to get access and learn how to work with the Quantum machines. They're under the sole access of a highly exclusive research project at UNM Las Cruces."

"So..." Kyle thought about that, and turned back to Tess. "You can't just mind warp him in?"

Tess shook her head. "To create a truly realistic framework to convey the illusion that Alex belonged there without any basis of reality would require a lot more precision control than I can lay claim to. For one thing, I can't think of any way to do it without creating false memories - and though I've experimented with doing just that by mind warp, I haven't gotten to the point where the results are terribly convincing yet." She smiled feebly.

"Max's notion was to find something that would be of value to the project," Alex put in. "I think that's our best shot, it's the way research groups like that tend to work, though most may not admit. If a lowly high school student from Roswell, New Mexico is part of a package deal that's advantageous to the project, he'll quickly become part of the project." He smiled slyly. "If he wants to be, at least. I've managed to drag up three things that we might conceivably be able to deliver... all of them are relative long shots, but no-one said this was going to be easy, huh??" He took out a letter-size printout and passed it to Tess, who happened to be the next around the circle to his right.

"A recognition equation for language forms," she read off doubtfully, and looked at Alex.

"Yeah," Alex agreed. "Given a string of characters - any kind of characters - encoded as numbers, a simple scheme to measure how much it does or doesn't look like a language. Like something that was all the same character repeated over and over again wouldn't qualify, or something that was too equal in its distributions." He shrugged.

Tess passed the sheet off to Kyle, who scanned it himself, and then picked up where Tess had left off. "Two, build a longer quantum chain. Alex?" He waited for the explanation.

Alex nodded. "The computers use quantum chains to solve tens of thousands of equations at once. But processing time is still at a premium, and for each additional quantum added to the chain, it roughly doubles its multiprocessing power."

Kyle passed the sheet along to Michael, but he didn't move on to the third point. "And how are we supposed to discover anything like that??"

Alex groaned. "I don't know! This is a brainstorming list... and I had to work pretty hard to come up with this much." He looked around to make sure that no one else was within whisper distance. "I mean, god, you guys are the aliens! With molecular manipulating powers, I might add. Why's it so hard to believe that you just might be able to come up with a longer quantum chain??"

Max reached out and took the sheet from Michael. "And this is just a preliminary list, right, Alex?" Alex nodded, a little warily. Whoops, I'd put him on the spot there, hadn't I? "I mean, other things may pop up, right??" No big response. I looked down and read the third item out loud. "Generalized algorithm for simplifying a symbolic logic stream."

"That's the key to the whole process," Alex said slowly. "They use a hypothetical translation of the language to build an insanely complicated stream of symbolic language from the sample text. If they can simplify that stream, they can use it to generate a meaning, but there's no straightforward way of simplifying symbolic l..."

"Can I be excused?" Michael muttered, waving a hand sarcastically. "My brain is full." Kyle and Tess didn't seem to be paying much attention either, and Isabel's look of rapt attention was probably the mandatory girlfriend variety.

**Why the heck SHOULD he be helping us out,** I wondered to myself. Alex is going to all of this trouble for the four of us, and they can't even be bothered to listen, never mind help out.

Alex nodded slightly, and Michael got up and left the table. Kyle followed suit. Tess looked around and pulled a paperback book out of her bag, opening it halfway into the saga of Geomancer.

After a few long seconds Alex and Isabel got up too. I hurried to catch up with them.

"Alex, man... I'm sorry. I think they want to help, but things were just getting a little too jargon-y. Why don't you take the weekend off, recharge your batteries?"

Alex exchanged a shy glance with Isabel. "That was pretty much the plan anyway. I've got big plans with Isabel - a surprise this afternoon, and the concert tomorrow. But thanks, man." He smiled at me. "I do understand. It's just... frustrating, ya know?"

"I do." Pause. "Well, I think I'm gonna go back to campus. See ya later?"

My sister's arm was snaking around Alex's waist. "Yeah. I think we're going to hang here for a while," he said. Isabel waved goodbye with her other hand.

I looked back towards the table. Michael and Kyle were tossing an old football around, and Tess was totally wrapped up in her book. I thought about going up to her and asking her if she wanted a ride, but what Isabel had said earlier about Tess being deeply hurt by my rejection rang in my ears. Probably better to give her some time come to terms with things before trying to mend the fences, so to speak.

So I got into the Jeep all by myself and drove off. There were two more of 'our' cars here, and five people yet. I had come over by myself. Everything would work out fine.

But somehow the drive seemed a little lonely.

The lunch break wasn't nearly over yet, so the hallways of West Roswell High were pretty empty. Not deserted... every so often you'd see someone searching through their locker, a student or teacher quickly making their way from point A to point B, (wherever those points might be,) someone sitting on the floor with a small puddle of homework spread about them, or the odd couple stealing a little quiet time.

And then, across the corridor from my locker, about fifteen feet towards the bio lab, her attention apparently riveted on a Shakespeare text, was none other than Elizabeth Parker.

Neither of us said anything or even made a gesture of greeting at first. But I could feel her watching me as I opened the locker and started looking for my geography binder. "Liz."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to wait nonchalantly in this particular stretch of corridor for half an hour?"

I smiled and turned around. The book was closed now, held at her side, and she was walking towards me. "Surprised it was worth the trouble."

Liz smiled warmly and didn't reply to that directly. "So, what did you rush off for in such a hurry?"

"How did you know about that?"

"I could see your taillights on my way out of English, as it were," Liz's smile seemed a little more bittersweet now. "Headed in the direction of the west parking lot. It didn't seem worth trying to stop you."

"Oh." I looked into Liz's face, she didn't seem to be angry, just maybe a little disappointed in not being able to spend more of her lunch hour with me. Or was I reading too much into this out of hope? "Big meeting at Chico's taco stand. The computer project... um, did anyone tell you about that?"

"Yeah," she nodded, looking straight into my eyes, and it was like I could see that old spark, just a little. "Alex filled me in last night. I begged off helping - not really great with computers."

"I don't think any of us are, except for Alex," I admitted. "We can still use all the help we can get."

"I'll think about it," she said, so softly it was almost a whisper. She was close enough that if I reached out I could touch her now, but I didn't. "I didn't wait for you here to talk about the latest Czechoslovakian caper, you know." Now she was whispering indeed, but I could hear her without any difficulty.

I closed me locker door. "No, I didn't think you had," I whispered in agreement. "Why *did* you wait??"

"Because you waited for me," Liz replied softly, and then shook her head slightly at the cheese factor. "What you said last night... I understand what you mean. But... but I'm not ready for anything but a new beginning, and a slow start. Until I know in my heart that it's right, that you really were meant for me. Or maybe more to the point, me for you."

"I can live with a slow start," I murmured, hoping deep down that I really could. "How about we have lunch tomorrow? Is that slow enough?"

"Ye---" Liz looked at me apologetically. "Yes, it would be slow enough, but I can't make it tomorrow. I have plans with Maria - a 'girl's day off' kind of thing. I'm sorry."

"Don't be," I assured her.

"Sunday?"

"Uh... sure, sure. I wouldn't miss it. Umm..." What's a good place for a non-threatening Sunday lunch? Isabel had mentioned something... "The Olde towne restaurant? One-thirty??"

"I will meet you there," Liz agreed, a big grin on her face.

"You sure? I mean, I can pick you up, if you want..."

"No," Liz replied, a little too quickly and definitively. "I mean, I can get there fine," she assured me a few seconds later, much warmly.

"I can't wait," I said, smiling. "So, umm... can I see you at the Crashdown tonight? Not for a thing," I quickly disclaimed. "Just in the mood for a Galaxy Melt and hanging out with an old friend."

Liz smiled. "I'll be on shift. And you know you're welcome any time."

I smiled back, and looked for a new topic. "Hamlet?" I waved at the book, still clasped between the fingers of Liz's left hand. "Are you covering that in your AP English class?"

Liz shook her head. "No, as geeky as it sounds, I'm reading this on my own."

I nodded. "Cool. How'd you like it?"

"It's interesting. Title character kinda reminds me of someone, but I can't put my finger on who..."

------------

(Isabel):

The doorbell rang, and I hurried up and through the front hall, excited. Alex's mouth dropped open when he saw me.

"W-w-wow," he managed after a moment. "You... you look --- incredibly hot!!"

"Well, thank you." I had taken the opportunity to dress up a little - it wasn't every day that my boyfriend takes me out to a rock concert - well, Beth Orton is more on the folk rock side I know, but still.

I was wearing my tight black leather pants, a red spandex halter-top, and red four-inch heels. I had put on a thin gold bracelet, corkscrew earrings with little rubies at the ends, and a choker with a blue topaz hanging from it. My hair was down, just slightly curled, and I was pleased that Alex appreciated the effort.

"You look pretty sexy yourself." Alex did, too. He was wearing tight black jeans, (not *too* tight,) a wife-beater top, and his hair was spiked up a little more than usual, with gel. "How are we doing on time??"

He looked at his watch. "We'll be alright to grab some food before the show starts, if you want."

"Hmmm." I thought about that. "Yeah, I could eat. You wanna go by the Crash??"

Alex considered that himself. "Yeah, okay." He smiled and extended his arm to me as I stepped over the threshold.

We talked about trivial things on the way over to the cafe - school assignments, old times. (A year and a bit ago, which is about as old as old times get for the two of us.)

"WHOA!!" The shout rang out as we walked through the front door - well, as I walked through. I verified the source of the exclamation... Kyle Valenti - and waved teasingly at him as Alex and I walked up to our favorite booth, which was fortunately empty.

Maria came up to take our order. "Hello, strangers, welcome to Roswell," she chirped, suppressing giggles. "Y'all in town for the big concert??"

"Yeah, yeah, very funny DeLuca. I get it," Alex replied.

"How... how do you know my..." Maria pretended to fan herself in shock. "Alex?? Isabel?? Why, I didn't recognize you two, trashed up like that."

"Don't pay any attention to her, Alex," Liz called over. "I think you guys look great, and I *know* that Kyle agrees with me."

"Who looks great??" came Michael's voice from the kitchen.

"Okay, enough of all this," I said, cutting though the hubbub. "We're in a bit of a hurry. Umm... I'll have a galaxy burger, a cherry coke, and... Alex, do you wanna share an order of Saturn rings??"

"Sure," he agreed. "Galaxy burger for me too, no pickles, extra tomato, and a lemon soda."

"That'll be comin' right up, darlings," Maria mugged, and sauntered away. I grinned at Alex, and soon we were playing the word association game while waiting for our food.

It came pretty quickly, and we ate in silence for a little bit. About a minute or two after the burgers had come, I heard steps coming up to the table and a throat cleared. "Good evening," a deep, suave voice sounded. "My name is Michael and I'm your chef this evening. I just wanted to come by and ask if everything was perfectly satisfactory."

I groaned. "Take a good look at the outfits, Michael, and then go away." I posed a little, stretching out on the seat.

"It's not that," Michael insisted, though I saw his eyes roaming across my figure a little. "I just wanted to come and wish you a great time at the concert. Nobody deserves it more than you two." He rubbed my shoulder with brotherly affection and gave Alex a high five.

"Thanks, man," Alex told him.

Soon the meal was over, we paid up at the counter, where Liz offered us her congratulations as well, and then quickly drove over to the county hall. There was a long line of ticket-holders waiting to get in, of course, and I started to get bored as we stood in the queue. Chatted a bit about what-might-have-beens, nothing important.

Soon after that we reached the gate, Alex surrendered the tickets to get torn in half and accepted the stubs back, and we started inside to figure out where our seats were.

"So, did you really mean it??" I asked as we looked up an aisle to see if the seat numbers fit a pattern we could use. "That you wanted me to come up to Las Cruces this summer?? Assuming that you get in, that is." This was something that he'd suggested yesterday, on a horse-riding date.

"Well, of course, what, am I really going to turn down the company of my beautiful girlfriend while I'm in exile??"

I grinned a little. "Well, it might be a little intense, and a little bit of a commitment. Spending all that time, out of town together. Of course, if we're boyfriend and *girlfriend*," and I couldn't entirely choke down a giggle here, "then I guess that shouldn't be as much of an issue, should it? It's just... well, we've never talked about that, have we??"

"What, going steady?" Alex blinked. "Umm... well, I guess I kinda thought it was a little early. We've only been together for a few weeks, after all. But... I'm up for it if you are, I mean - are you kidding?? Like I've really had the jam-packed social schedule, apart from you."

"There was Leanna, in Sweden," I reminded him. "Ohh, I think we're here."

"What??" I pointed at the row that would contain our seats. Pretty good location, too.

"So, um, yeah. Leanna. I mean, that was fun, but it was totally a summer love type thing, except in the wintertime. I mean, really, dating a girl who lives more than five thousand miles away?? New meaning to the term 'long distance relationship.'"

"Ahh," I muttered as I sat down, feeling a little disappointed. Is that the only reason Alex chose me? Geographic proximity??

"Plus," he whispered in my ear. "You've spoiled me for dating human beings, Isabel Evans." I'm sure I blushed.

The warm-up act came on about then - some Texas folk band, they seemed pretty good. We grooved along, and then there was a break before the headliner was ready.

"So, what do you want to do after the show," I whispered to Alex.

"Umm... don't have any ideas. You??"

"Yeah, I've got a notion," I giggled. "But I'll tell you later. Ooh, something's happening."

An announcer had walked on the stage. "Ladies and gentlemen. all the way from Norwich, England... BETH ORTON!!"

-------

(Alex):

When I woke up, the twilight was just starting to glow at the edges of Isabel's window.

So, after the concert, we went back to her place and made out, and she convinced me to stay the night, since her parents would be out of town until this afternoon. In fact, Max hadn't been home all night, either - he'd left her a note, something he needed to check out, 'probably nothing to worry about.' (I wasn't sure if that phrase should be enough to make me feel nervous.) He'd also mentioned that Kyle was with him.

We didn't do anything much hotter than necking - after all of that, I expected that it would be difficult to... to relax and get any sleep, if you know what I mean. But something weird happened... as I lay there with her, this strangely peaceful sensation seemed to roll over me like a wave. It might have been all in my imagination, it might have been something weird and alien.

Anyway, it was a very pleasant if slightly numb sensation, and I started to get really sleepy very quickly. This may sound really corny, but when I was really dozy it felt like it was Isabel's love that was washing around me and surrounding me. I was hardly aware of my body any more, and I hardly missed it.

Now, as the morning threatened to break outside... well, not threatened, but it was as if morning was starting to talk tough and brag a bit... anyway, most of the magic had worn off, though I still thought I felt a trace of harmony and one-ness with the universe. On the other hand, there was restlessness deep in the back of my mind somewhere, and I carefully slipped my body out of my girl's embrace and headed out to the upstairs den that Isabel and Max shared. (Must be nice to have a successful lawyer for a father... the Evans house is really pretty fancy, though it doesn't look like much from the outside.)

I'd have to ask Isabel whether she felt anything like I had while we were falling asleep... though I might want to be vague first so that I could abort instead of looking like a total idiot if she had no clue what I was talking about. Hmmm... making some kind of nice breakfast would be a cool idea too, but not yet really. I sat down at a desk and began to doodle around with the linguo-semantic algorithms that I'd learned out about while researching the Quantum project. I'd been working on them so hard all week, but after the briefing yesterday at lunch had kinda self-destructed, I'd done my best to put them out of my mind and concentrate on relaxing - and on Isabel. Now I guess they were bubbling back into my mind.

I'm not sure how long it took. I don't even remember anything much other than the vague sensation that something incredible was falling into place. I do remember staring there and looking at the sheets of paper, four of them, my handwriting covering them in the dim lamplight. "Oh, my god. I don't believe it."

"What is it, Alex??" By some cosmic coincidence, Max was standing at the door to the den, or maybe he had been waiting there for a while, watching silently until I had spoken. Isabel was just behind him. I wondered briefly if Max had jumped to the wrong conclusion about what I was doing there so late at night, or really, early in the morning, but right now that was almost totally beside the point.

"Um, err..." Without being able to put a proper word together, so much as a sentence, I got up and passed the papers to Max. He scanned them, but the confusion was immediately visible in his eyes.

"What the heck is this??"

"It's..." my voice broke, as if it could hardly stand to say the words. "It's what's going to get me into the Quantum project. It's an algorithm that I'm almost certain they're desperately searching for."

"Where... where did you get it??" Isabel asked softly.

"He came up with it himself," Max guessed, with more than a touch of pride. "All this time you were looking for what was almost beneath your nose, Whitman. The answer was you."

"I could have told him that," Iz whispered, crossing into the room and wrapping an arm around me.

------------

(Isabel):

"Hmm... anyone up for miniature sausages??" Max asked whimsically.

"No, thank you," I declared immediately. "We've got bacon in the nuke, that's quite enough fatty protein."

"Well, I won't say no to a few," Alex put in. "That is, if they're not too much of a pain to fry up."

Max thought about that. "I can throw in a handful between pancake batches."

"Sounds good to me," Alex agreed, fussing over the skillet with a spatula.

"Speaking of which, those are starting to smell really good," I mentioned quietly.

"They'll be ready in a few minutes," Alex agreed, lifting up one flapjack by a rounded corner to take a peek at its underside. "Until then, hold your horses, sweetie."

"I don't do the 'waiting thing,'" I teased, throwing a seductive pout in his direction. "Ooh... I'm gonna cut up that honeydew that mom bought on Friday... that's fair game by now."

"Sounds good to me," Max agreed. "What about you, Alex? Are you a melon man??"

Alex dropped his spatula, his eyes wide. Max's face creased in confusion as Alex bent down to retrieve the utensil, and then a short burst of laughter escaped.

"What??" I asked, staring at both of them in turn. My Alex was pretty embarrassed, and not just from not being quite sure what to do with the spatula. Max had gone all Cheshire cat on us.

I got out a fresh flipper and gestured to the sink, where Alex quickly tossed the old one. "What's so funny..." Right then I figured it out. "Oh."

"I dunno," Max teased. "Not sure I approve of my only sister dating a guy whose brain is clearly in the gutter."

"Heh," I breathed in an obviously fake mimicry of a chuckle. "*YOU* don't get a vote, mine only brother." It was a cheap gag, and more than likely Max had, on some level, set Alex up for it on purpose. But I knew he loved Alex almost as much as I did, if not in the same *way*, of course.

Soon enough, breakfast proper was underway, and once we'd started eating, the quiet briefings began as well. Alex told us a bit about the computer al-go-rhythm that he'd worked out that was going to get him in the door at Las Cruces, (though there was little enough about it that either Max or I were really capable of grasping about it at the time.) Max asked him what the next step was.

"I've got the number and email address of someone in Las Cruces," Alex mentioned as he got up to check on the next batch of pancakes. "Did research online, then asked my Dad if he knew anybody there who knew someone in the computer department. Someone who I don't think will be mortally offended if I drop a bomb like this on him on Sunday. I'll give him enough to make it clear that I've got the full answer, but hopefully not enough that anyone there can fill in the blanks themselves easily. See what the reaction is."

Max nodded. "Sounds like a good plan to me."

Alex smiled, and brought the big skillet over to the table. "Pancake, sweetie? You didn't take any from the first batch."

"Huh?" It was a little hard to follow the question through the little pleasant shock from Alex calling me 'sweetie.' "Umm, yeah, two please, and could you grab the strawberry ice cream from the fridge-freezer and toss it over when you get back over that way??"

"Umm... sure..." He served out my two pancakes, put one on Max's plate and the last on his own, and headed back to replace the frying pan on the stove. "Ice cream?" He retrieved said pink confection and quietly couriered if over, instead of throwing it as I'd said, and then returned to pour some new batter into the pan for the next batch.

"Uh, yep." I took a fresh grapefruit spoon and scooped out two tiny little dabs of ice cream, putting one on each pancake and smashing them down a little so they started to melt quickly, the runny mixture going all over, with a little help. I cut a one-sixth wedge out of one pancake, well anointed with melted ice cream, and popped it into my mouth. "Mmm."

"Huh," Alex hemmed. "I thought all of you guys' dietary quirks involved spicy stuff."

"Not all of them," I corrected him. "In fact, I feel as if lately the appeal of Tabasco has been wearing off. Maybe it was just a growing-bodies thing. How 'bout you, Max???"

"Umm." Max thought about that for a second. "I hadn't really thought about it, but you could be right. Can't remember the last time I got a serious craving for a Tabasco-caramel fix."

Then Max started to tell us about what he and Kyle had really been up to all night. How he had found out about a sighting of mysterious blue crystals west of town; how he had recruited Kyle and the two of them had spent all night investigating.

"Gandarium??" I repeated, subtly horrified. Our prior encounters with the Gandarium had been one of the strangest things that had ever happened in Roswell, as far as I knew - and that was saying a lot. And what the Gandarium queen had done to Grant Sorenson... and how Alex and Kyle had nearly died in that cave. Not to mention the theoretical fact that they embodied a viral plague that would have devastated all humanity if they'd been able to finish infecting Laurie Dupree... that was a fact I'd repressed enough that I couldn't really grasp it at the moment.

"Maybe dead Gandarium," Max agreed slowly. "Kyle swears that they are. But I couldn't find anything to substantiate even that much. I cracked a few apart and looked at it through a microscope... tried to burn part of one, even ground a few into powder and tried a few basic chemical tests. As far as any of that indicated, they were just garden-variety blue quartz." He sighed. "Oh, and we tried to suffocate a bunch of them, just to be on the safe side. No reaction. So I decided it was safe to just leave the rest of them out there."

"I don't really see what else we could do anyway," Alex mentioned, "so just as well. With all of them out there... I don't want to think about what it would take to gather them all up."

"It wouldn't be that hard," I mentioned. "Not with..."

"That's what I'm talking about," Alex pointed out. "You guys doing your thing... in public, when just about anyone might see or take pictures. No thanks."

I thought about that, and quickly changed the subject. "So, dear brother mine... you've been up doing mad experiments on blue crystals all night?? And this is the big L day." I wasn't sure if I was saying L for love, Liz, or lunch, but the meaning was pretty clear in any case.

"Yeah," Max agreed. "I'm gonna be heading off to crash..." Suddenly, of course, just as he was in the middle of that sentence, something interrupted.

"Hello, Evans's??" Someone rapped on the back door, which Max must have left ajar when he came in, because it swung in about a foot or so.

"Uh, yeah??" I called out after a second.

The door opened further and in stepped Michael, with a little bit of Maria visible behind him. "Morning, Evans's... Whitman," Michael added, noticing Alex sitting at the table.

Suddenly, I realized how this must seem to them... the three of us having breakfast, quite early on a weekend morning -- and Alex was still wearing some of Max's old clothes. So it seemed like time for a pre-emptive strike. "None of your business," I warned him.

"Hey, wasn't asking... just brought Maria by to see if anyone was up for a little home-cooked breakfast... but it looks like you already beat me to it." He smiled.

"Help yourself," Max told Michael. "Hi, Maria." She had followed Michael in and swung the door most of the way back closed.

Michael was peering in the pancake batter bowl. "Not that much left," he observed out loud.

"Then feel free to mix up some more," I pointed out. "Maria, do you want some yoghurt??" I'd tried to convince Max and Alex to try it, since I'd gone to all the trouble of cutting up a banana and strawberries to stir into it, but they'd stood firm.

"Ooh, with fresh-sliced fruit!!" Maria grinned and dug in.

"Hey, anyone he..." it was another voice at the door, and it swung open quickly to reveal... Tess. There was a moment's silence as she took in the scene... Max, Alex, Maria and I gathered around the table, Michael grinning at us as he measured out pancake mix... and her face fell. "Never mind. I didn't mean to bother you guys." And she stepped back, halfway out the door in a single motion.

Another moment of stunned silence, and suddenly I realized that I was getting up and rushing after her. I'm not quite sure why, or why it was I... I hope I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Maybe Max and everyone else noticed me going first and decided to leave it to me.

By the time I got out the door, Tess was halfway to the street. "Wait!" I called out.

She kept going for a few seconds, then half turned around and paused. "Why??"

"Because no-one in there wanted you to go away," I blurted out. "I understand that you're feeling awkward about the whole thing, but... we're just hanging out, having a big sociable breakfast together. Now, you wanted to come talk to either Max or me, or you wouldn't have come here. What's scaring you off??"

"Well, Maria's never been my biggest fan," Tess admitted, turning the rest of the way around, "but I guess you're right. It was just... more people than I was expecting." She smiled. "And I wanted to talk to both you and Max... if that wouldn't be too much trouble."

"Uh, sure," I agreed, as Tess walked over to close the gap between us, and I turned around to walk with her back to the back door. "I mean... fine by me, but you'll have to ask Max. He was saying something about wanting to get some sleep."

"Oh, right, he was out with Kyle, checking out those crystal sightings," Tess agreed as we headed back into the kitchen.

"Yeah, how did... you spoke with Kyle??"

"Just a little, when he came in," she nodded. "Well, it's alright if Max can't join in. I guess it was really you I wanted to ask about this anyway..."

At this point, it was Tess' turn to be interrupted, because Alex called out "Think fast!!" and she had only about a second's reaction time to catch a large plate in her hands before it went sailing past her. As soon as the plate was secure, Michael flipped a big pancake up into the air in a perfect trajectory to land on it.

I won't go through the rest of the details of breakfast because, as fun as they were, they're not really relevant and I've kind of babbled on and on. Alex and Maria left about twenty minutes later to put in some face time with their families, and Michael settled down with our reference books to do some background research for his history assignment.

Max agreed to listen to what Tess had come to talk to us about, with the provision that he couldn't talk for long. She quickly told the two of us about the strange dream experience that she had had... full of emotional sensations and only very faint imagery. She didn't want to go into great detail, but put the first question to me quickly: did I think that Tess had accidentally been dream walking??

I thought about it for a bit, and told her no. I've had dream experiences myself that were like that, I think that everyone has. But when I dream walk someone, it's always as if I'm literally there, it feels very real. Even when I was dream-walking Max in the white room, the scene was distorted around me, because he was so drugged, but I was somewhere. And when I had whatever dream-flashes of Laurie, that had been kind of similar, and not like what Tess had been describing.

"So, do you think this was just an ordinary dream??" Max asked her. "Or maybe... some new alien power or effect, not really related to the dream walking??"

"I... I really don't know how to tell," Tess admitted. "Well, Max, you'd better go and get your rest, I think."

"Yeah." He smiled at both of us. "I hope you figure it out, Tess."

"Thanks. Good luck with Liz today."

Both of us stared at her. "What, you didn't think I'd heard about that??"

Max was speechless, so I spoke up. "Well... not really, but that wasn't the shocker. Did... did you mean that??"

"What, the good luck??" Tess asked, and I nodded. She paused for a minute, getting it. "You know what? I really do. It hasn't been the easiest thing for me to accept, but... you deserve to be happy, Max, and if getting back with Liz is what makes you happy, then I hope you get her back. And..." Tess' voice broke a bit, and I could see tears brimming in her eyes. "And I think she deserves you."

Max stood there for a second, obviously touched. "Thanks." He hugged Tess quickly, and then took off.

"Um, so..." Tess turned to me, obviously trying to look far more together than she really was, yet. "Got any plans for this morning that I can bum along with??"

I only had to think about that for a second. "Actually, yes. I was going to go to church. Do you want to come??"

Tess didn't say anything for a long time. "You know... yes, I think I'd like that."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

(Max):

"Max?" The voice brought me out of my inner thoughts, and yes, it was *the* voice, the single most important one in my entire universe. I looked over, at Liz! (Yes, I think Liz Parker deserves an exclamation point for nothing more surprising or unexpected than being herself.) "Glad you could make it," I babbled enthusiastically as she sat down.

"Yeah, like I'd miss this," Liz shot back, a wide grin across her face. "Not quite one thirty by my watch... you weren't waiting long I hope?"

"Of co--" The denial kind of gurgled away in my throat. "I was too anxious to wait; let's speak no more of it," I urged.

She didn't completely manage to stifle a chuckle. "Of course. So what looks good?" Liz picked up the menu that had been sitting near her place for too long.

"Umm..." I had definitely been staring at the menu for minutes at a time while waiting, but at that instant I couldn't remember a thing. Desperately I scanned through the entrees. "You could have a slow oven-baked pizza," I suggested after a few seconds.

"Hmmm... I'm kinda in the mood for pizza, but..." She definitely seemed more than uncertain.

"What is it?" I asked her.

"Well, YOU know how I like my pizza," she muttered. I must have looked as uncertain as I felt, because after a short moment. "Pizza was meant to be... party food, you know. Long slices out of an *enormous* pie, loaded down with just about everything good in the world... plenty of cheese and sauce, and just a little oily around the edges." She grinned, and I smiled back, remembering this spiel, though I wasn't sure from when or where. "A place like this, though, is just going to make tiny little well-behaved pizzas, you know??" I nodded. "All tasting of flour around the crust and with each single piece of topping in its place. I'm not wild about SEEING the pizza come to that today, never mind eating it."

I smiled. "We could always take off and hit Mario's."

"We'd be a little over-dressed," Liz pointed out. "No, this place is fine, as long as we steer clear of the pizza. Hmm..." And she fell to examining the menu in silence.

Then I remembered one piece of news I should convey. "Oh, Alex is getting in touch with Lax Cruces today. He thinks he's found a way in."

Liz blinked in shock, and then brightened. "Already!? He was telling me that it could take weeks or months."

"He says he just woke up this morning and he had it... the idea for some brilliant algorithm."

"Cool," Liz decided. "I think I'm going to try the broiled ham platter. You??"

"Gimme a minute," I said, and turned my attention back to the menu again.

After settling the bill, I didn't really want to leave things at that. The two of us were getting along pretty well, but there was still all kinds of awkwardness, unsurprising after everything that had happened between us in the last year. I didn't want to have the date end without a kiss goodbye, and I didn't want to make a move until the time was definitely right. All of my instincts were telling me that I had to wait.

Fortunately, Liz seemed to feel the same way, or at least to have no objections whatsoever, so we started walking past the shops and old buildings along North Richardson avenue, just enjoying the afternoon together. After talking about the 'dead Gandarium enigma' for a bit, I let her grab me by the hand and lead me down the cross street at a near-run for several blocks, until we got to the park.

"Ooh, what do you have planned now?" I teased her.

"You'll never guess." Liz led me to an arrangement of outdoor furniture not quite nestled underneath the line of trees that bordered the park... small seats each bracketing concrete tables, each of which had a grid of eight squared by eight in alternating colors centred. She had me sit down on one mini-bench facing the nearest table, she took the other, and started fetching small figurines out of a concealed recess... a set of chess pieces, both colors, and rather improbably complete. (Given that all of this was in public, and the possibility of a stray bishop getting lost or taken away seemed so plausible, but not about to argue with it.)

With my help, she arranged them all in the standard starting position, and then nodded at me. "Okay, your move??"

"You want to play chess??" I repeated, somewhat surprised even after all of this build-up. She gave me the puppy-dog eyes and a pout, which seemed to be a complete over-reaction since I was just checking, but it's a combination that I've never been able to resist. "Okay."

I moved the king's pawn two spaces forward and waited for her response.

-----------

(Alex):

I lay down on my bed, pleased and breathing hard with the released tension. And then the phone rang.

For a second I froze. Had something gone wrong? Had they decided that what I had wasn't worth anything after all? I forced myself to calm down and pick up the receiver. "Hello?"

"Alex, I'm dying of suspense here." It was Isabel's voice. "What happened."

The sense of relief was so strange that I laughed out loud. "I've spoken with Doctor Pryor himself," I told her.

"The... the guy from those original articles that Tess showed us?" she confirmed a bit doubtfully.

"The very one," I agreed. "The head of the Quantum project. And he wants it. He may already want me for my own sake, but he definitely wants what I've got."

"That's great," Iz told me. "So what happens next?"

"He's coming up to Roswell to have dinner with my parents," I said. "Day after tomorrow, at which time I'm gonna do an informal walkthrough, and we'll discuss the idea of me coming up after finals and doing some work as a junior member of his team. Oh, and by the way, my Dad is really excited about this - he's taking me to get a notarized copy of my work put in his safe-deposit box tomorrow. He doesn't know the real reason why I want to get in there, of course."

"I should hope not," Iz told me. "Well, this is great!! Do you have any idea when you're going to be heading down to Las Cruces for real?"

"Umm..." I paused to take stock. "We're coming into the last week of classes, right??" Isabel made a little uh-huh sound of agreement. "Two weeks of finals after that... and I remember that I don't have any exams scheduled over the last few days of finals. If everything goes okay with Pryor, hopefully I can head off around then... Thursday two and a half weeks from now."

"Okay," Isabel said thoughtfully. "I took a look at available summer courses... art history and intro philosophy start in three and a half weeks, and my parents said it was okay if I wanted to enrol. The applications deadline is Wednesday."

"You sure about this?" I asked her. "Taking courses just to have an excuse to keep me company up there?"

"Well, not *just* to keep you company, I'll admit." Isabel giggled. "I'm looking forward to taking these courses for their own sake. But being on campus with you, hundreds of miles away from our parents, is definitely a bonus."

"We may get hundreds of miles away from our parents, but their nosiness will probably still be able to follow," I added. "My mom figured out that I'm dating someone, and Maria let your name slip. There's probably going to be a dinner invite for YOU in not too long. And I'm sure she'll figure it out if we both happen to be going to Las Cruces this summer."

"I know," Isabel agreed. "I'm not talking about anything that we couldn't tell our folks about... err, at least, anything we REALLY couldn't tell them about." She laughed softly. "We agreed we're not ready for that, right?? But... just to be near you, for all that time, and not to have to worry about all the little moments that are only embarrassing when your parents walk in..." She sighed contentedly at the thought.

"Yeah," I agreed, and there was a pleasant moment of silence. "So, what are you up to tonight??"

"Umm... ooh, got to work on that history paper," she sighed. "I've been so excited about the concert and everything this weekend that I've fallen behind schedule. If I bomb out... well, then I wouldn't be graduating early after all."

"Good luck," I wished her. "I think I'm just gonna veg out, maybe surf the web a little."

"You deserve it," she assured me. "I wish I could do the same."

"'Bye."

"I love you, Alex." There was a short silence as those words hung in the air, and then the line went dead. I paused in thought, grinned, and stretched out on my back, letting my mind go blank, or nearly. Isabel's face kept creeping in, which was no bad thing.

-----------

(Liz):

The sun was setting over Roswell as we headed back down Main Street towards the Crashdown. Max and I had spent all afternoon together... chess in the park, and a little cloud watching, talking about all sorts of stuff as we wandered through the quiet city streets... Max insisted on going by Mario's to buy some pizza slices for dinner, after my little rant in the restaurant at lunch. The whole date had been... well, enchanting.

"Come on," I told him, suddenly excited, and led the way down the last stretch of sidewalk and along the side of the building until we had come to that familiar wrought-iron ladder. "I'm in a skirt, so you go up first." Max smiled at that, and headed up, and I have to admit I stole a peek, even through the fancy pants he was wearing were loosely fitting and didn't give me a very good view.

Soon, we were both standing... there. THE balcony. This was where we had had our first kiss, this was where I had written so many fervent diary entries ever since that day in the cafe when Max had saved my life. I looked up at the wall that had once born the blazon of his affections - a large red heart shape with an arrow sticking into it, and our initials, M E + L P. He had inscribed that with his alien powers the night I agreed to go out on a blind date with another guy... even made it glow. Of course, he'd been very drunk (which, for a hybrid, apparently takes only a tiny dose of alcohol,) and had been in control of neither his emotions nor his powers.

All this and a dozen other memories swept over me as I stood there, just as twilight was sweeping across the city below, though a gorgeous trace of the sunset could still be seen. I turned to Max. "Do... do you have something to ask me??"

Max smiled a little. "I feel as if I've been doing all the asking, and all the chasing, lately. Shouldn't it be your turn?" he teased me.

I didn't argue, though it took me a long time to frame the right words. "Max, would you... do you really want to -- to try to start over again, where we... where we were, more or less, before things started to go wrong last spring??"

He smiled broadly. "Incredibly much, yes I would." And he stepped towards me, still a little tentative.

I nodded slightly, and that apparently resolved all of his uncertainties. In just a few short seconds I was in his arms, and I was kissing him, and one of his hands was up in my hair the way I always love, and...

And a wave of imagery rushed into my brain. I almost cringed, expecting something disturbing or unsettling, but it wasn't, this time. Not even anything new or surprising. Walking together, hand in hand, at the Mesaliko reservation, as Max told me something about him or Michael or Isabel. Heading into the cafe, the morning we had found the orb, the time my parents very nearly grounded me for a decade after they found out I'd been out all night with Max.

And... and something new, but still not disturbing, or at least it didn't seem so. Max and myself, still, this time standing together on the path heading up the mountain towards the pod chamber. Everyone was there, kind of watching us -- Michael, Maria, and Tess further uphill, looking down. Looking upwards from down the hill - Isabel, and Alex, Kyle and... not Tess again, surely. Could it possibly be -- Ava?? She didn't look like Ava the last time I had seen her, but somehow I think it was she.

I couldn't tell what was going on between Max and I -- I knew it was significant, possibly pivotal, but there wasn't any movement or sound. Just a snapshot picture, or a rotating perspective actually, while the scene remained perfectly still. And then it was gone again.

"Did you..." I mumbled without breaking the kiss. "Did you see anything??"

"No," Max muttered, flicking his tongue against the outside of my lips. "Just felt you. Did you get a flash?"

"Uh-huh," I replied as he swung me around against the wall. "Tell you about it later."

------------

(Alex):

"Good morning!!"

The first thing that I was aware of was hearing the words. The second was two fingers touching my forehead lightly in a zigzag pattern... as if each contact were a footstep walking across. Third came the brush of soft hair against my right cheek, lasting just a second, before it was swept back away.

I took a moment to wake up more fully, and opened my eyes. "Isabel... what are you DOING here??"

As her face slid into some approximation of focus, I could see Isabel grinning. "What do you think, silly... giving you a proper goodbye."

Ouch. "Don't remind me," I muttered - probably a little grumpily. It was May the twenty-fourth, and a little later this morning, my Dad would be driving me down to Las Cruces and helping me move into a residence room at the university that had been arranged by Doctor Pryor and the quantum project. Isabel would be going up as well, as we'd agreed, but not for nearly a week -- she still had one final exam to write, AP history, and then would be attending the graduation ceremonies of West Roswell along with people who had always been a year ahead of us.

Until next Tuesday... or maybe even Wednesday, I'd be very much alone up there. Well, except for several thousand summer school students, five hundred instructors, and four hundred researchers, none of whom I really knew. The point was, Iz and I had been nearly inseparable over the past three weeks or so, and I was already missing her, or realizing how much I WOULD miss her as soon as I left.

I sat up a bit, rubbed my eyes, and noticed that Isabel had sat down at my desk chair, looking a little sad and sorry, as if she'd taken my comment a little too seriously. I got up, only a little self-conscious about my plaid pyjamas... (Well, she'd seen them before, the bottoms at least, the time she woke me up to ask me to kiss her on the porch and 'generate some information'...) I smiled as I squatted down next to the chair and then I kissed her on the lips.

"Thanks for coming. The more I can see your face today, the better."

She smiled back. "Okay... well. You need to get washed and dressed -- or do you usually have breakfast first??"

I thought about it a second. Isabel was already dressed -- a sleeveless red top and a long black skirt that managed to show off her legs nicely -- and hanging around her too long in my pj's would seem weird. "No... now's good." I headed over to the dresser and quickly found the clothes that I'd been meaning to wear today. They were about the only things that hadn't been packed up already, after all.

"Is there any last-minute packing I can help with??" Isabel asked as I took a quick look at myself in the mirror on the back of my door. Ooh... serious bed-head, that's not pretty.

"Umm... packing?? Yeah, actually, if you can just take everything from the top two desk drawers and try to get it all into that black bag over there. Ohh... and I had to leave most of my CD collection behind, but you can take a look and see if there are four or five more that you think I'm gonna need," I teased her, and then made a quick exit.

So... I got myself showered and combed and dry and clothed and all that, and Isabel was done and chatting with my mom by the time I got into the kitchen. Breakfast was... well, I don't really remember much about breakfast, to be completely honest... I guess there was so much other excitement in the air that I just didn't really notice eating. Isabel mentioned after everyone was done that she wanted to take a walk with me.

"Ahh... want to say a few goodbyes in private??" my mom teased us.

"Just... j-just be back by ten-thirty to start loading up the car," my dad said, smiling and shaking his head a little at us. (I wonder exactly what he was thinking.)

"Don't worry, Mister Whitman," Iz said, her smile betraying a secret, if not two, that she was holding to herself tightly. "That shouldn't be a problem."

Isabel took me walking down the street. I was wondering if she had any particular destination in mind, but she didn't seem to. As soon as we turned the corner onto Estralita and were completely out of any possible sight of my house, she surprised me with a lusty kiss. That answered one question, maybe.

But neither of us really felt that comfortable getting into a big make out session right here about a block away from my house, in public, and we just kind of walked around for a little while, doing the 'I'll miss you so much,' 'I'll miss you more,' 'No I'll miss *you* more' thing. I wished her luck on her history finals, she wished me the best in getting settled and started with the quantum computers, and we traded a little bit of news about the other members of the gang. Max and Liz's last outing had gone very well it seemed... he'd taken her to this new fancy French restaurant that just opened on North Virginia street -- and it looked like the two of them were well and truly back to the couple that they had once been.

I was glad to hear it... certainly out of all the people I can think of who really deserve some angst-free happiness, Liz Parker and Max Evans are right up there on the list. It's been so hard to see stupid stuff keeping them apart this whole year, when anyone can tell how much each still loves the other.

Once Isabel and I had gotten to the point of playing I spy to pass the time as we walked, I decided that everything important that needed to be said was said, and after stealing another quick kiss, I took the next turn for home. I remember noticing that Isabel checked her watch discretely, like she was trying not to have me notice if possible, before following without a word.

I found out what that was about once we were in sight of the driveway. My entire packed luggage had been neatly loaded into my Dad's car, and a card table had been set up on the front lawn with cans of pop and salty snack foods. The whole gang was there - Max, Michael, Maria, Liz... even Kyle and Tess. "Hey, I thought you said you were going to keep him busy longer than that," Michael called out as we got near.

"What can I say??" Isabel shrugged, smiling. "He's a smart cookie and he catches on quick. Once he started to head back, I figured you'd had enough time and trying to pull a diversionary tactic would just make him suspicious." She turned and beamed at me.

"A surprise goodbye party??" I confirmed, taking the cola that Kyle offered me.

"Seemed like the least we could do," Tess agreed. "Considering what you're doing for us."

"Well thanks." I turned to Liz. "Should I take your appearance as a sign that you approve, Miss Parker??"

She giggled. "I wouldn't go that far - not that it's really my place to approve or disapprove. But how could I turn down showing up at your farewell party??" She hugged me quickly. "Get that code cracked and hurry back, 'cause I'm gonna miss you."

"Well, I for one am officially jealous," Kyle announce to me with a tremendous (though not *quite* actually painful) clap on the back as soon as Liz's hug was finished. "Getting to spend the summer at the UNM-Las Cruces campus, which even in summer has got to be swarming with co-ed foxes." He winked at Isabel and me. "Too bad you're already tied down!!"

It was a great little moment. We fell to the refreshments and basically just hung out until my Dad finally ventured out and mentioned that the two of us had probably better get going. I said the rest of my goodbyes -- and re-said a few that had already been covered, and jumped into the shotgun seat, craning my head to watch my friends waving and hooting until they were gone.

"So, Alexander," my dad said softly as he made his way towards Main street. Oh-oh, this sounded like trouble. "I was talking with Jeff Parker the other night, and he mentioned that your friend Isabel is going to be graduating early, and that she's been accepted for some trial summer classes at Las Cruces." There was a thick silence in the car all of a sudden that the noise of the engine could never possibly cut through. "Were you planning on mentioning that to myself and your mother, ever??"

-----------

(Maria):

"So..." Michael whispered to me as I was still looking in the direction that Alex had left. "Got any plans for this Saturday?? Afternoon, evening..."

"Well... Isabel and Liz were talking about going up this weekend to pay Alex a surprise visit this weekend," I mentioned, turning around just in time to see the disappointed expression on his face. "Why??"

"Come on," he muttered, gathering me in with an arm around my waist and smoothly walking me away from the others, down the street that Alex's house was on. "Do you remember anything about Hal Carver??"

"The Air Force pilot who saved you guys' life when you were just a tiny little bit of a pod... and taught you the meaning of Christmas??" I teased. "Yeah, I recall just a little. Why do you ask?"

"He's coming back to New Mexico - he's going to be in Albuquerque on Saturday -- I just found out this morning," he told me. "I thought you might like to really meet him - I know you kinda saw him in the Crashdown that day that he was telling me his story, but you were so busy that day that you hardly said a word to him that wasn't about his food, and that doesn't count." A pause. "But if you'd rather go up to visit Alex..."

"No, no..." I interrupted, truly touched. Knowing Michael as well as I did by this point, it was clear to me that Hal Carver had meant something very important to him -- something that he wanted to share with me. "I can go up and visit Alex all I want once classes are over. I'd love to meet Mister Carver." After a second, I asked "What brings him to Albuquerque, anyway??"

I looked up at Michael and saw that he was grinning. "Well, after he left the Air Force..."

"After he ran away with the military police after him for breaking into a restricted area??" I clarified.

"Potato, peh-tahh-to," he pshawwed. "Anyway... he ended up in Albuquerque, not sure what the hell to do... but, well, because of Betty he tracked down a newspaper office and asked them if they had a job - any job. Started off sweeping floors in the 'Journal' office, then working in their mailroom. Ended up one of their best snapshot artists, and in about two and a half days, some association or another is going to give him and two other people awards for excellence in journalistic photography."

"Aww... that's kinda cool," I said, smiling at the thought.

"Now, um..." Michael paused as we walked along. "The timing could be a problem. I really want to stay for the whole awards dinner - he told me he can get two tickets easy - but that'll be pretty late and it's a long drive back from Albuquerque to Roswell."

I thought about that... yeah, could be tricky. Driving around the state at all hours of the night was one thing when there was some desperate alien emergency up, (and not much fun even then,) but I wasn't wild about it otherwise. But I didn't want Michael to have to leave early on my account, and the alternative was... "Well, maybe we could give my mom some kind of excuse about why I'll be out all night, and... well, you know, find somewhere to sleep not too far from the city."

Michael apparently couldn't resist a smirk. "Drag you into one more motel room??"

I couldn't help laughing a little myself. "No funny business," I quickly disclaimed, though I was wondering if I might want to change my mind about that on the spot. It was never romantic to let the guy know beforehand, of course... even pretty decent types like Michael never understood that a girl's first time should be about the MOMENT... oh, god help me, I'm actually thinking about having my first time - with Michael - this weekend - in a motel room. Clearly I needed to consult with Liz about this, see if I was way off base. "Just the two of us going into the city to spend some time with a friend of yours, and sleeping there instead of driving back for four and a half hours in the middle of the night when we're both tired."

"Of course," he agreed smoothly. "I'm glad you wanted to come."

"I'm glad you asked me," I told him sincerely.

"Maria??" I had been looking over at Michael so fixedly that when I turned away to look at the person that had said my name, my head swam for a few seconds. It was... "Tess... how did you??" I looked around us, confused. Suddenly I recognized an alleyway and the minor mystery of how she got there ahead of us was solved - it was the same back lane that ran behind Alex's house, accessible from his yard through a wooden fence gate - Tess had just gone around the opposite direction that Michael and I had.

What wasn't as clear was... why? "Yes?" I told her, keeping my voice carefully neutral.

"I was... wondering if I could ask for your advice with something," Tess said in a very small voice.

"Hey, that sounds like my cue to leave," Michael said, smiling nervously at both of us.

I reached out and grabbed at his arm, without saying a word. Tess noticed it. "Please," she added, an odd intensity and... and *vulnerability* in her voice, as hard as that was to believe with Tess Harding.

Slowly I let go of Michael, and nodded at him once, very slightly, and he nodded back and quickly made himself scarce. I turned back to Tess, trying not to talk too harshly at her. "What is it??"

"Umm..." Now that Tess had me all to herself, she didn't quite seem to know what to say next. "First off... I wanted to -- apologize," she started, the words coming so slowly from her that I could almost picture them getting dragged out, a few at a time. "I've been nothing but a royal bitch to you - and to a few other people - since the day I showed up in Roswell, and I guess it's long past time I started to change that."

I stared at her for a long moment. The expression 'you could have knocked me over with a feather' seems pretty relevant to that moment. After more than ten seconds, some semblance of good manners finally asserted themselves. "Um... apology accepted, yah - and thanks." There was silence for a moment. "Mind sharing what's led you to this sudden epiphany??"

Tess started to flush. "Oh, this and that..." she mumbled evasively. "The fact that even though Alex is pretty high up on the list of people I've treated like dirt, he's going off to Las Cruces -- and he HAD to have figured out that it was my idea." Well yeah, but he probably went because of Max and Isabel asking him to, I noted silently. "The inescapable fact that you and I are going to be effectively part of the same family soon. Liz's reconciliation with Max."

"Ah," I noted... though it seemed to me that there was something on this subject of her motives that Tess was still holding back. "And you want to make peace with Liz for the sake of your friendship with Max??"

"Partly," she agreed readily enough. "Liz hates me, doesn't she? I've given her enough reasons to... I never really meant to hurt her - not on purpose." Tears were falling down her cheeks all of a sudden, as we walked down the alley. "I was jus... was just so sure..."

"Ssh." Without ever deciding to, I spread out one arm and wrapped it comfortingly around Tess' narrow shoulders. It was just some kind of automatic reaction. "You... you aren't currently taking up a spot on the list of Liz Parker's favorite people, I'll admit that much, but to tell you the truth, I don't think she hates you." She was entitled to hate, I admitted silently to myself, but... "She's not the kind of person who hates easy."

Tess smiled at that... a shy, open smile that looked nicer that any expression I'd ever seen cross her face. "So... does that mean you think she'll accept my apology too -- assuming that I can gather up enough nerve to make it??"

I had to laugh at that. "Yeah, I think your chances with that are good."

We headed back through the back yard to the driveway. Cleanup for the party was almost done by this point, though both Tess and I found some way to pitch in a little, and then Tess gave Kyle a ride home. I snagged Isabel for a short private chat before she left, too.

"Yeah, what is it?" Iz asked with a smile as we headed over to the other side of the Whitman front yard.

"The day trip up to Las Cruces on Saturday to surprise Alex??" Isabel nodded. "I won't be able to make it after all. Michael invited me to, uhh..."

"Hey, say no more," Isabel assured me.

"I'm really sorry to cancel after I said..."

"No, really, it's okay," Isabel assured me. She turned a bit and both of us realized that Max was waiting none too patiently for her. "Is that all?"

"You should invite Tess to come up with you..." I blurted out all of a sudden. Isabel's eyebrows went straight up.

"Even though Liz is coming too? Heck, why would Tess even WANT to come along??"

"Trust me," I heard myself saying. "I'll square things with Liz -- just ask her." Isabel shrugged, and nodded, then hurried back over to the Jeep.

Liz was waiting when I got to the Jetta, of course. "We've got a fair bit to talk about, girlfriend," I told her as I got behind the wheel.

-------

(Liz):

"Oh, my god," I babbled, more than a little stunned. "You're really thinking about it?"

"Not 'thinking about it' as in making plans," Maria quickly disclaimed as she started to head across town. "I'm just... having urges."

"We've *all* had urges," I reminded her. "Trust me. Never-gonna-happen urges or... well, what??"

"Hmm..." Maria didn't answer for a long moment, or maybe a moment and a half. "It 'could' happen."

"Wow," I admitted. "Not meaning to throw anything back in your face, but it wasn't that long ago you were bound and determined to be the last teenage virgin, if necessary. Mind if I ask what changed??"

"Hmm... fair question, but I'm not sure if I have a good offhand answer," Maria said.

"Who wants 'offhand?'" I laughed. "Got nothing but time."

So Maria thought about it for several streets. "Things have been going well between Michael and I lately... like *really* great, but that's not a good reason. It makes me shiver sometimes if he only touches me, but that's not a reason."

"Okay..." I said, trying not to prompt too much. Letting Maria work through this in her own time.

"I've been thinking a lot about us, though," she said after a pause. "I love him so much, Liz, but on some level I know that no matter how much I love him or he loves me, we may get separated. I may not get happily ever after with Michael, or even the big wedding day with a gorgeous dress and all of our friends there. So... I want to make the most of every day I do get with him, and to share as much as I can with him. Does that make any sense??"

"It was possibly the coolest thing I've ever heard," I told her, nodding. "I hope that when it's right, everything works out for you."

"You'll be the third person to know," she promised, laughing silently. "So... what're you up to today? You don't have any exams do you?"

"No," I told her. "Since it's such a nice day, Max and I were going to go down into the ravine, see if the waterfall's going -- but that isn't until later."

"Aww..." Maria moaned... did I detect a note of jealousy?? (And this from the girl who had just told me so much about her great relationship?) "Well, I've got the trig final, but that isn't until one thirty... you wanna hang at my place?? I've got something I kinda wanna show you."

"Uh, okay... what is it??"

"Ohh..." We were getting close to the DeLuca house already. "Just a few lyrics I've been working on that I wanted your opinion on."

"Song lyrics??" I paused. "Gee, I'm flattered, but..."

"Come on," Maria replied. "Deny it all you want... we all know you're a wordsmith."

-------

I looked up from 'The Naked Sun' as a clear knock rang out from the apartment door... smiled to myself, and very definitely did not get it, though I closed the paperback with a bookmark in it and put it down on my desk. From where I was sitting I was out of sight of most of the living room, which suited me fine - I wanted to listen to this without being obvious.

The knocking started again, half-heartedly, and stopped suddenly as the door swung, almost silently open. "Max??" It was my father's voice.

"Umm... yes, hello Mister Parker," Max replied somewhat nervously. I stifled a giggle as much as I could. "I'm... I'm here for Liz."

"Ohh? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that would make it the third time in less than forty-eight hours." Max made an indecisive sound. "And yes, I'm counting last night even if Liz was already outside by the time you pulled up."

"Perfectly correct, sir," Max said with forced politeness. "I, um..."

"Oh, come on Max," my mother's voice joined the conversation. "He's just giving you a hard time. He thinks it's his duty as a father." I could hear someone sitting down - probably on the couch. I couldn't really tell who. "So... what're you and Liz going to be doing this time??"

"Ohh, umm -- a little hike down into the ravine." Max sounded really uncomfortable... I'd better go out and rescue him. Well, maybe a minute or so more.

"Ohh, a picnic lunch??" My mom asked. "Well, kinda late for lunch..."

"Not a picnic, really," Max clarified. "I brought along a few snacks -- but basically it's just a hike."

"Where *is* Liz, anyway??" my dad asked. "I'd have thought she'd have showed up as soon as she heard the door..."

Okay, that was definitely my cue. I stood up, took one last check in the mirror and headed out into the living room. "Hey, sorry -- it took a moment for me to climb out."

It was my mom who was sitting on the couch. Max had been standing around nervously, and he hurried over to join me quickly, (and with a little look of relief on his face, which made me feel guilty for having left him alone with my parents for so long.) He made a slight gesture of leaning over, as if he were about to kiss me hello, but changed his mind in an instant. I'm not sure if my parents would have even noticed it.

"You look nice," I told him softly. Max was wearing khaki chinos and a light blue button-down shirt that always looks so nice on him. He smiled and nodded, taking a moment to look at me in turn. I had put on my semi-nice jeans and a yellow t-shirt, and taken my hair down out of the ponytail.

"Have a great time," my mom said as we waved our goodbyes and headed back towards the door.

"Don't worry," Max replied, still a little nervous. "I'll have her home by suppertime."

"Aww, why'd you have to go and promise that," I teased him quietly once we were down on the stairs and out of sight of my parents.

"Well, I didn't..." Max started, and I cut him off by reaching up and kissing him on the neck. I wouldn't have been able to pull the manoeuvre off if he hadn't been on a step two below me on the stairs. "I guess I wasn't thinking."

Actually, I was okay with the afternoon being a no-pressure outline, even though I realized that I was feeling kind of playful. (As witness leaving Max alone with my parents for as long as I did, and the teasing.) We headed quickly out to the parking lot and into the jeep, and Max pulled out and started driving west out towards the ravine. "So, how was the book??"

"Uhh... what??"

"You said you had trouble climbing out," he reminded me. "That's an expression you only ever read in connection with a book, right??"

I took in a breath, surprised that Max had noticed that little tidbit. "Pretty good, an old favorite. But I'm appreciating parts of it on a new level now."

"Cool," he said, "So, exactly where am I going??"

I explained the directions, as far as the old road where we'd have to park and continue on by foot, at least.

"Okay," Max said, and drove on in silence for a while. "Thanks."

"For what??" I asked, smiling over at him.

"For... for sharing a little piece of yourself with me like this. I've gathered what this place - the whole ravine area, the waterfall clearing in particular, means to you. It's special to you... and I get the feeling that you weren't ready to open yourself up enough to take me there last year."

"Uhh... yeah, I guess," I agreed. This place certainly had memories. It was where Maria and I had first met Alex, for one thing... and where Alex and I had shared a curious kiss, in the last year of junior high. I pushed THAT thought out of my mind as quickly and as hard as I could, not wanting to dwell on kissing any other guy while I was sitting right beside Max. (Oops - Alex and I promised that we'd never tell anybody else about that... well, you guys will keep my secret, won't you??)

"So... what snacks did you bring??" I blurted out, as Max approached the ravine along the old road.

"Nothing too fancy," he admitted. "Those little juice boxes you like -- peanuts, a few apples... and a few treats and some candy." He grinned over at me. "You can see for yourself once we get out."

Soon enough he parked, just as the forest trees were starting to appear, and I hurried into the back to see what the treats were that he'd packed. All great stuff - M&M's, skittles, and marshmallow rice snacks... good travel snacks that wouldn't melt easily (Not that today was very warm for late May in New Mexico, but still...)

At this point I took the lead, heading for the gap between trees where the pathway down into the ravine started. As soon as we stepped in, everything seemed to change, even the sunlight looking totally different as it fought to shine in between the trees. This place had always been a sanctuary, a place that I felt I could go when I needed to run away from the world. And Max was probably right - no matter how close I'd felt to him last year, I had never even thought of sharing this secret with him back then.

"Wow," Max breathed, carefully exploring on ahead of me, having to watch his step lest he trip over the roots that always threatened to overgrow the dirt path. "I can see why you loved it so much." He seemed as enthralled as I was the first time I had ever come here.

"This ain't nothing," I told him with a laugh, and pulled him onward. Past the spot where I'd first really met Alex, without a word. (I'd been chasing a salamander for a fifth grade science project.) When the path started to double back in a ragged Z shape, I pulled back a branch, trying to remember in exactly WHICH direction away from the easy route we had to go here. It had been so many years... yes, that way, through that patch of tall grass had to be the way. "Come on," I told Max, who'd been looking at me doubtfully. "If we don't get to the waterfall clearing, nothing else makes a difference."

"Are you sure you know the right way??" he said, a touch plaintively. But he smiled and followed me as I made my way carefully into the forest itself (if not directly into the worst of the bushes and branches.)

It wasn't far like that. Soon enough the glade opened up in front of us, as if by magic. Sure enough, the river was flowing enthusiastically, the rain that they had gotten further up yesterday feeding it, (though Roswell itself had gotten but pitiful drops.) A stream of flowing water leapt off of the seven and a half foot height, and plunged impressively into the pool at the base of the tiny crag.

"Isn't it incredible??" I asked Max, turning towards him, and noticing as I did so how the trees and the mist surrounded the clearing, just as they always had in my memory. The look on Max's face was transported. Impulsively, I stepped up to him and kissed him, energetically, passionately, one hand straying teasingly under the edge of his shirt where it had gotten untucked at the waist at some point during our walk through the forest. He kissed me back eagerly.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

(Tess):

"Do you think they'll have him scheduled for anything today?" Liz asked. "You know, big important computer stuff that'll take hours..."

"C'mon, Liz," Isabel replied. "It's his second day there, or third or whatever, and it's the weekend. Worst comes to worst..." she smirked a little. "We 'kidnap' him. They'll understand."

Liz snorted. I might have too, a little bit, but I didn't chime in. It was nice of Maria to arrange for me to join in on this little expedition, but I didn't really feel comfortable enough with them to join in on the rapid-fire back and forth banter. At least not when I had to keep my eyes on the road...

"You've got the directions to his residence and the room number?" Liz asked Isabel for the third time, (and we were only twenty minutes out of Roswell.)

"Yeah," Isabel assured her. "Right here." She tapped her purse.

"But what if he isn't anywhere near there?" Liz said, rambling to herself as much as talking to Isabel. "It won't be that early by the time we make it to Las Cruces and the campus. And he's new there and doesn't know anybody... probably none of his neighbors would know or care where he might have gone... that's if he even HAS neighbors in the dorm... it's probably pretty empty. Did you that spring exams have been over for a week already at all the New Mexico universities??"

"Liz," I broke in before she could come up with something new to worry about... "Relax! We found Max in an abandoned army base... Isabel found a girl buried in the desert. I think we'll be able to find a friend of ours on a college campus."

Liz laughed. "Yeah... I guess you're right at that. Between the three of us, we do have our talents."

We drove on in silence for a little while. What vehicles were being used by whom had been a subject of a fair bit of discussion during the plans that surrounded Maria pulling out of the trip to Las Cruces and me tagging along. The original plan had been to use the DeLuca family Jetta, and she had offered to lend it out, but the old third hand car that Michael bought three weeks ago was still more than a little temperamental, and nobody was eager to trust themselves to it for a road trip to Albuquerque so soon. Isabel had asked about borrowing the Jeep from Max, but I volunteered my wheels... I wouldn't need them for anything else today, would I, after all?? And here we were. Not quite the three amigas yet.

"So," I blurted out suddenly. "Does anybody know anything about this Carver guy?? I mean, I've picked up that Michael met him last fall when he came to Roswell for some Air Force reunion thing... can't say that I was paying any attention at the time. Guess I was a little too obsessed with the big G... it was immediately after you discovered 'it', right Isabel?" Iz nodded.

"Yeah -- all I really know is that right after doing his history makeup project with Hal Carver was the first time in months upon months that Michael was nice to me," Liz put in. "Even APOLOGIZED. And he brought Maria up to the rocks right around then... showed her the Granilith."

"He told me a little about Hal's story," Isabel put in. "Afterwards... around the time that you and Max were in New York," she quickly added the last part, as if I'd get upset that Michael had shared information with her and not with me.

"Broad strokes, Hal Carver was an air force captain, stationed here in Roswell at the time of the crash. Saw some things, a couple of which he didn't like. Started working with an investigative reporter, Betty Osorio, to uncover the whole truth."

"Oh," Liz breathed, sounding as surprised as I felt. "What happened next?"

-------------

(Michael):

"Maria, Henry Carver. Hal, my girlfriend Maria DeLuca." The two of them smiled at each other and shook hands. It was a few hours yet before the awards dinner would begin, and we had just gotten into Albuquerque. Hal had suggested that three of us meet at a coffee shop that he knew of, to talk and spend some time together first.

"Right, we met at that cafe back in Roswell," Hal said. "The one where Parker's bar used to be." That got a bit of a snicker from both of us, but he continued on without noticing. "So glad to have the pleasure formally." And with a twinkle in his eye, he brought Maria's hand up towards his head and kissed it roguishly.

"Oh brother," Maria chuckled. "I'm gonna have to keep a watchful eye on you ALL evening, aren't I??"

"Seems only fair," he winked, taking a moment to look her up and down appreciatively. Maria was wearing a nice dress for the dinner tonight, in muted purple and blue print, and she did look VERY cute and attractive. I fought down a completely inappropriate surge of jealousy... Hal was a fairly old man, a good friend, and he was only teasing the both of us, I was sure.

"So nice to really meet you too, Mister Carver," Maria told him belatedly, and we found a table, sat down, and ordered some beverages. "So... you must have a lot of memories of Albuquerque, Hal."

He laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I lived here for... huh." He paused, doing a little math in his head. "Forty-four years I guess... from forty-seven until 1991, when I retired and made the big move down to Florida." He laughed a little to himself. "Most of that time I was living up in this small apartment just a little west of downtown... third floor. Probably anyone else would have said that it was a dump, but --" He shrugged. "To me, it was home."

"You lived alone all that time??" Maria asked, with a bit of an odd expression in her voice.

I'm not sure if Hal caught the weirdness, but he laughed a little bit. "Yeah, lifelong bachelor. Never did manage to fall in love and get married, though not for want of a bit of trying." He looked from Maria to me, then back again... and I wondered if he thought of Betty Osorio when he looked at Maria, the same way I thought of Maria when Hal was telling me about Betty. "I didn't seize the day when I had the chance," he muttered softly, "and I wasn't watching out for the one I loved when she really needed me. Every day since I've regretted those two things."

There was a bit of an awkward silence, and Maria reached out to pat his hand, silently, supportively, a pensive expression on her face. Our drinks showed up right around then... coffee black for Hal, kiwi tea-wi Snapple for me, and a strawberry herbal tea for Maria. Hal looked around to see if there was likely anyone who could overhear us after the waiter left. Practically no one was in this half of the shop.

"How've things been going for you lately, Michael??" he muttered. "Did you ever find those -- those friends of yours? The other four you were so interested in when I mentioned that they might be out there?"

I scowled at the veiled reference. "Umm... yeah, we've met up, but it didn't go so well. Frankly, it might be better if you hadn't saved their butts after all."

Hal almost spit out a mouthful of coffee. "Do you really mean that, Michael?"

"Not really. I mean, I know that you didn't have any idea who or what were in those sacs. You could never have told the difference between us and them anyway."

"Leaving that aside," Hal continued softly. "These people are... like you. They'd probably have been killed in as horrible way as you can imagine if they hadn't been taken away from that room. Are you saying you could live with that??"

"They're not good people, Hal," I insisted stubbornly.

"It's easy to say that, especially when you haven't been in their shoes."

"But even so..." I groaned, trying not to be too loud about it. "Okay, maybe I wouldn't have wanted them left there. But still... two of them, they killed one of their own before we even found them. It was probably happening around the same time that you and I met last fall. Then they very nearly killed my best friend." He sighed. "The last of them, the fourth... I guess she's okay."

Hal blinked a little in surprise, and then nodded. "Your best friend... is he all right? I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"He's fine," I assured him.

"I'm glad," he said. "Any other... problems??"

"Not too recently," I assured him. "There was... well, here isn't the place," I decided, realizing that a few tables not too far away had started to fill up. "We can go for a walk in a bit, talk more about it then."

"There's... there's something interesting going on right now, actually," Maria blurted out. "May give us all a few answers."

Hal nodded with interest, but didn't press for any more details. "So, I know that school has just let out... you're both still in school, right?"

Maria nodded. "Just finished junior year."

"Got any big plans for the summer?"

"Not really." Maria sighed. "Probably both of us will be working long hours at the cafe. I have to get paid, y'know?"

Hal blinked in slight surprise. "You work there too, Michael??"

"Yeah." I nodded ruefully. "Fry cook."

"You didn't mention that... Is that how the two of you met??"

I couldn't keep down the laugh as that question brought back a rush of old memories... Maria and Liz confronting us in a dark alley as the three of us were on our way to run away from Roswell. Standing there in the hallway at the moment I realized she had lied her ass off to Valenti to cover for us... the time I stole her car. "No, that was a lot earlier. In fact, Maria and Liz really helped me get that job, right after I got emancipated."

"You're emancipated..." Hal broke off, evidently connecting the mental dots between what he already knew about me and this new factoid. "Got it."

"Of course, at some point this summer," I said, returning to Hal's question, "I think Maria's going to be standing as maid of honour at her mother's wedding."

"God, I hope not," Maria remarked, earning her an odd look from the two of us. "Not saying that I hope the engagement breaks off or anything -- just that rushing for a summer wedding feels like a mistake to me."

"Not a big fan of the guy??" Hal put in.

Maria cocked her head for a second. "No, it's not that. Mister Valenti's cool and all. It's just..."

"Valenti??" Hal repeated in surprise.

"Yeah," I mentioned. "Son of the deputy Valenti you told me about." I remembered Jim Valenti senior's part in the tale, including the parts about Hal's sometime lady friend Rosemary that had gotten him so upset at the time. "Who isn't doing so well lately, as you might have heard."

"Yeah," Hal mentioned. Seeing that all of us had finished our beverages, he muttered, "Let's walk," and quickly the table was cleared. "Killed an innocent man, ended up in an institution... I caught the basic details. Hell, our paper covered the story."

"What you might not know," Maria whispered, "was that Sheriff Valenti senior was framed. He didn't fire that shot, but was railroaded away because he knew too much, including who did."

"Oh," Hal said, weighing that over and not coming to any conclusion about it. "So... what's this new development you were telling me about??"

And we walked carefully off into the Albuquerque streets, lost amidst the bustling city.

-----------

(Kyle):

It was nearly eight in the evening by the time I got home. I have to admit, I was in a pretty nasty mood. Tossed my jacket into the vicinity of a hook on the front hall wall, (by some almost-miracle, it managed to catch the hook and hang very precariously,) and undid the top two buttons of my shirt. I was starting to hate cars... hate everything about them. But I knew that I couldn't quit that job.

The house seemed very quiet, much more quiet than usual. Of course, Tess had been talking about going up to Las Cruces with Isabel, so maybe she hadn't gotten back yet. And Dad... was he over at the DeLuca's house? Somehow I didn't think so, though I couldn't say why.

I searched through the entire house before I tried the garage... and before I'd done any more than step out the back door, I knew that had to be it. For one thing, there was the unmistakable sound, kind of a soft buzzing that got anything but soft when I opened the garage door. A circular saw going at full tilt.

"Dad!!" I shouted at him. "DAD!"

He heard me the second time and shut down the motor, turning and grinning at me lopsidedly, holding the piece of Gambel Oak that he'd been working on and showing it to me.

"I gotta ask... are you back in the dark place again??"

He laughed. "No, no, definitely not. In fact, I think you're going to be very happy when I tell you what I'm doing in here - what I'm starting. But I can't tell you yet."

I blinked in surprise. "Why the heck not??"

"Promised Amy that we'd tell all of you kids together. This was a decision that's going to affect... well, I guess I might as well get used to saying it now. Going to affect the whole family."

"Wow, sounds big." I hoped that he was right that I'd be happy to hear the news. "Well, I'm going to go and crash in the living room."

"You're that tired? It's still early." Dad looked around. "I could knock off for the night, we could play some Horse or something."

"Nah, that's all right." I sighed. "Long, hard day at work."

"Just a sec," Dad called before I left the garage. He dusted his hands off against each other and walked up to me.

"Kyle, all of this effort you've put in for the sake of our family since I was dismissed... I'm proud of you. It was a situation you never should have been in... and I'm sorry for that. And while there's less that I can do about it than I'd like to, I don't mean for you to have to carry this weight much longer." He sighed softly to himself and brushed a bit of hair away from my forehead.

"Sounds good to me, dad," I agreed. "See you in the morning?"

"I'll be there," he agreed with a smile, and when I turned to go he started to head back to his tools.

-------

(Maria):

"Thank you, thank you." The polite applause died down. "Ladies and gentlemen, our award honourees: Philip Rendon." This was an old guy, stooped with hardly any hair left, but he still moved energetically enough to the stage and up the stairs. "Hal Carver." I cheered loudly, much more vehemently than anyone else had all evening. Michael shot me a look but he shook his head and grinned. Mister Carver deserved it. "And Laurel Keener." This was a light-haired woman who looked a few years younger than Hal... pretty forgettable in appearance.

The ceremony was almost over when they called Hal and the others up on stage. Each of the three honourees gave a little speech, but I have to admit I don't remember a word of any of them. Plenty of people were already clearing out of the banquet hall by the time Hal got back to the table.

"Hey, it's my biggest fans," he said with a smile, and sat down in his seat. Checked his watch. "Getting pretty late - shouldn't the two of you be heading back for Roswell now?"

"Umm..." I shot a glance over at Michael. "Not... not really. Because we knew the dinner was going to go late, and it's such a long drive back, we -- we got a reservation at a hotel just out of town to spend the night."

Hal looked at the two of us for a second and then gasped. "What... what is it??" I asked.

"Oh..." he sighed, and continued in a low voice. "Just for a second, the two of you... you reminded me so much of myself and Betty that it took my breath away." He shook his head. "Take a word of advice from an old geezer who missed his chance - don't be content with seizing the day. Live every minute of every hour to the fullest, because you never know what it is that you'll look back on and regret. If you take your chances and play the cards you're dealt..." he coughed, "well, it helps a little."

Oh, my god. Did he know what I'd been thinking about all night, about that hotel room, and Michael... and whether it was the right time to... well, to consummate everything with Spaceboy. Everything I'd said to Liz about it still made sense, but I wasn't sure if it was enough to convince me... especially considering my mom's overprotective warnings. To have the argument taken up by this guy I'd really only just met... but I doubted he was talking about that, just about taking chances in general.

"Well, how about this," he said in a moment, shaking off the extremely sentimental moment. "You kids will still want to get to your hotel before it's too late, or they might give your room away. Why don't we walk over to my hotel, and talk along the way, and then you can walk back to where you parked from there??"

I looked over at Michael, who hadn't said a word since Hal had come back. He just nodded. "Okay, sounds good to me!!" I answered.

It seemed to take just a split second before we were sitting in the lobby of Hal's hotel, and then he stood up and said, "Well, it's been a great day, but I think I'd like to make my getaway at this point. Michael?" He nodded at Michael, who was standing up too, and suddenly Hal was giving him a manly bear-hug goodbye. I extended my hand for a handshake and he kissed it.

"I'll give you a call sometime, Mister Carver," I told him.

"Sounds great. Just so long as you don't expect me to pick up the phone in the middle of a pro game," he quipped, and then he was gone.

As we walked back out into the night, I took the opportunity to express my thanks out loud to Michael for inviting me up.

"You're welcome," he said after a moment. "During the ceremonies there, I was a little worried that you were wishing you were down in Las Cruces with the others."

"Not sure if they'd have still been in Las Cruces," I pointed out absently. "Depends on what point in the ceremony - it did kind of stretch out." I sighed and shook my head. "But the point is no, I stand by my decision. The awards were kinda dull, mostly, but I would have sat through much worse in exchange for meeting Mister Carver."

"Yeah, I think I know what you mean," he agreed, and we walked along in silence for a few minutes. "He told you like five times to call him Hal!"

"So what, I gotta stick by that even when he isn't here??" I asked.

"Seems like the thing to do."

I ignored that. "I do wonder how Alex is doing. Guess I'll hear all the latest tomorrow, when we get back to good ol' Roswell." Michael nodded.

We arrived at the parking lot then, the one that we'd parked at near the coffee shop... got in, paid the attendant, and headed off. The hotel was a pretty nice one, about five minutes past the city limits on I forty. I started to suspect that Michael had something up his sleeve when he insisted that I stay down in the lobby 'for a few minutes' after we'd checked in, while he went up to the room. On the other hand, I was intrigued, so I let him play out his gambit.

Once he came down for me and led me into the room, I was blown away. The light fixtures were dimmed and to that soft light were added candles, not a huge number of them, but set up all around the room. Arranged on the dresser, well clear of the candle flames but lit by them, was a huge arrangement of pink tulips -- my favorite. Some not-immediately-identifiable romantic rock music was playing softly on the stereo. The room itself was beautiful... the bed wasn't actually a four-poster canopy but seemed somehow reminiscent of that style, and the sheets somehow seemed to scream their luxurious-ness. Beds, actually, I should say - there were two of them, identical and each queen-sized. And at the wide window, all the drapes were pinned up to each side except for the sheerest possible curtain, through which the bright lights of the city winked.

I turned and stared at Michael. "No pressure," he said as he closed the door.

"Oh, yeah right," I scoffed. "Do you even believe that??"

"Maybe forty-five percent," he admitted with that grin of his.

I went over and sat on the dark blue couch, idly playing my fingers around the flame of the candle on the end table. Not getting too close to the fire, of course, I'm not stupid, but letting the warmth slide around the surface of my hands. I didn't trust myself enough to sit on the bed, not yet. "I -- I want to. To, you know... make love to you." I couldn't believe I had just gotten that phrase out without exploding on the spot. "I'm just not quite convinced yet that I *should* want to."

"I'm not trying to pressure you, really I'm not," Michael said softly, sitting beside me and taking my left hand in both of his. "I knew that you'd enjoy all of this for the sake of it, regardless of what we did or how far you wanted to go. But..." He turned to look at me, and the shadows played off his hair and the curves of his face, glinting on his dark eyes. "I love you, Maria. I love you more than I can come up with words for it. I've never... brought up this subject before, and not just because I could tell that you didn't think you were ready. *I* wasn't ready, not to let someone in to the core of myself, and I didn't want to be..." He shook his head, trying to get the thoughts to come out in some kind of sensible form.

"I tend to put up walls and keep people out, but for a long time I've known I wouldn't be able to have sex and still keep that wall up. Maybe no... no Czechoslovakian can, because we connect to people in ways that humans don't. Maybe the ability to have sex with someone and have it be just a casual thing is a human specialty." He was musing at this point, philosophical, distracted from the question of him and me, I knew. He wasn't trying to say that he thought I was the casual sex type.

"I... I don't even know what it will be like to, to share THIS with you," he finished after a moment. "Maybe there's no way that either of us can know. But I'm sure that I want to find out -- if you are."

I smiled at that, and suddenly realized that tears were flowing down my cheeks. "Let's take it one step at a time and see where things go from there," I whispered to him. I knew that I had made my decision and exactly what it was, and I knew that Michael knew it too.

He leaned over and kissed me, and some kind of fire started to immediately spread through my body. Now, needless to say, I've kissed Michael before MANY, *MANY* times. But there was never anything like this! Every part of my body was starting to rev up, to run faster and better. As that kiss started to get longer and more passionate, it was like I could feel things happening inside me step by step. The nerves were first... a jolt of energy running along the major conductors and flowing down every little fiber and synapse, without pain, without disturbing anything, and yet heightening every sensation. Then the blood began to flow more quickly and surely through every artery and vein, sending vitality and energy through my whole system. Muscles hummed with readiness, and every sense, every single hair on my skin seemed more fully alert than I'd ever been before.

Our lips separated, both of us out of breath and panting. "Did... did you feel that?" I muttered, running my hands against Michael's arms through his clothes. It sure seemed like he felt SOMETHING.

"Like my entire body went into hyper-drive without leaving the room??" I nodded. "Yeah, right there with ya."

"Good," I panted, somehow getting MORE out of breath from the *not* kissing. "Just wanted to check." And then my hands were at his collar, undoing the buttons of his shirt faster than I had known that I could. Rubbing my hands across his chest seemed to, I don't know, stabilize me? Helped me to breathe easier.

Michael gasped, and I tried to look at what he was surprised about without interrupting what I was doing. At the moment, he seemed to be moving one hand up and down the vicinity of my forearm without touching it, about two or three inches away from my skin. And in between, I could make out a soft pink glow.

"Oh my god," I breathed. I recognized the phenomenon instantly from something that had been described to me, It wasn't exactly the same, but it certainly seemed closer to something that Liz had described to me than, well, than anything else I had ever heard of, by a long shot. The night that she and Max had ended up finding the orb, after some kind of strange sensual connection had briefly entwined them.

Thoughts started racing through my mind, which despite the lust I was feeling seemed stronger and clearer than ever before. Was this an alien thing... the results of their mating cycle or some such thing? But Max and Liz hadn't actually... mated that night, hadn't gone all the way. Then again, no-one had ever explained how their passion had led them to the orb - maybe Nasedo had known some way of tapping into Max's mating urge to deliver that piece of information, and had been able t terminate the cycle once its purpose was done. Hey, this was starting to actually make sense.

On the other hand, I didn't really want to think about it any more. As clear as my thoughts were, my priorities and values were distorted, and I could tell that they were, but I didn't really care. I bent down and licked at Michael's nipple, feeling the ecstasy inside myself ramp up further with that simple contact, and I knew somehow that it was having an even greater effect on him. I could feel what he was feeling, and he could feel what I was experiencing, and it was starting to form a cycle that was feeding into itself. As the craving grew, I guessed, so would the rapport between us, until we'd surely be lost.

I couldn't wait.

Michael pushed back and took the lead, kissing down my neck to my collarbone, and rubbing his hands against my upper arms. Suddenly he gasped, in surprise and wonder. "What is it?" I asked.

"Umm... flash." He nibbled teasingly at the underside of my chin, a pleasant enough physical sensation, but I was a little bit disappointed inside. I'd still never gotten a flash directly myself, and though Michael had always said that was because of him, because he was still too guarded to let me in -- well, what if it was a lack in me? Because I was just an ordinary human girl, no matter how much I loved Michael and he loved me? Liz had been healed by Max, been *changed* by him, supposedly, so that explained why she got flashes, perhaps.

"What did you see?" I couldn't help but ask.

"I... I saw..." Michael extricated himself and moved his face up to parallel mine, looking deep into my eyes. "I saw... you, Maria. In some light pink dress, your hair as bright and beautiful as the summer morning sun." He brushed a lock of hair behind my ear. "I... I'm not sure where you were, but somehow I don't think it was anywhere on earth. And I was there with you. I can tell."

"Aww." I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but it sounded sweet. We French-kissed again for several minutes, and then Michael was unzipping my dress at the back, pushing it off my sleeves. The material thus kinda gathered up around my midsection as I lay on the couch. He rubbed his hands over the exposed parts of my torso, and I groaned with the delight of it.

I'd always expected my first time to hurt. Everyone said it did, unless your hymen had already been broken from some non-sex activity, and I didn't think mine had. But there was no discomfort I can remember, maybe because we were so connected, lost in the rhythms of an otherworldly mating urge, or whatever. It was right, and my body had been preparing for this for many long minutes, answering to a power that was beyond anything humanity knew.

It was... transcendent. I'm not sure how long we coupled, moving with the intensity of that primal beat. Probably only around ten minutes, though it seemed like much more, and also like barely seconds. I could feel both of our systems building towards the culminating moment... his dick preparing to erupt, my insides making ready to boil and spasm. But I didn't expect that orgasm, when it hit, would be an out of body experience. And it was - literally.

My soul shot out of its flesh and blood shell and enveloped itself in Michael's, then surrounding it, our two essences reaching heights of bliss and ecstasy that a physical body could never hope to attain. We began to... well, if you ask Michael he might describe it differently, but throughout the entire experience I felt that he was a part of me, and I of him, so I'll keep using the plural pronouns for what I remember of it. We experienced the pleasure of the entire city, of possibly several of the southwest states. I sang to him in the stratosphere and we played tag among the northern lights, then raced each other to Mars and back. Finally, his essence embraced me again and we... we sank into this peaceful harmony that connected every world in the galaxy, every sun in the universe, every speck of dust and asteroid and quasar. (For some reason, even universal harmony seemed to steer clear of the black holes, though, but that part might have been just my imagination.)

When I returned to my senses, I was snugly wrapped up in some of the most comfy blankets I'd ever felt... still completely naked underneath, of course. My eyes weren't blurry -- I looked around the room, seeing perfectly clearly in the darkness. The lights had been turned off all the way, the candles put out, and the curtains pulled shut. I saw Michael standing near the miniature fridge, wearing a black terry-cloth bathrobe, power-chugging a bottle of something that looked suspiciously like Snapple.

And damned if the first words out of my mouth weren't "Wanna do it again??"

-------------

(Kyle):

"I'm really sorry," Mrs DeLuca said, pacing through the room. "I really thought she'd be back here by now."

"It's okay, Mrs. DeLuca," Tess said, pondering the game board. "That's... five, and -- two." She moved two red counters among the different triangles of the backgammon board. "Your roll."

"Come on, you can call me Amy now," she said. "Or... maybe m--"

"Not mom," Tess said quickly. Amy's face fell. "Don't take it personal, it's just..." she screwed up her face in frustration, trying to get the right words out. "I don't even call Mister Valenti dad, you know? I'm so grateful that... that you guys have let me into your family, but I'm not there yet, you know??"

Amy looked at her for a long moment. "Yeah, I guess I understand."

We continued to play for a while, with Tess beating me both times, (oh well,) and Amy serving out snacks while my dad sat and waited, reading from some book that he didn't seem to want to let me see. As you might have picked up by now, we had come over for a big combined-family meeting, only to find out that the DeLuca side wasn't complete and fully accounted for yet. Maria hadn't come back from an overnight visit to the University of New Mexico, which was really something involving Michael, and doubtfully having anything to do with a university, from what little Tess had told me about it. Something about some military type who'd lived in Roswell in 1947 when the crash happened - I didn't really follow that part.

Maria's black-sheep cousin Sean was sitting on the other side of the living room, fiddling with one of those odd looking puzzles made out of heavy, rigid metal wire contorted into odd shapes and joints, free to move, slide, or shift at a few points... where the point is to remove a tiny steel ring that looks like it's physically inseparable from the rest.

Sean looked the most uncomfortable out of all of us, which made sense in that his connection with the core 'family' was in some ways more tenuous that even Tess's. She was officially my dad's dependent now, while Sean was really just an indefinite guest. Maria had mentioned that Sean had enrolled in the local junior college, but various events had interrupted his plans to get his own apartment. Big surprise, says I

Myself, I hadn't seen Sean around much since... well, since Liz and Max had gotten back together, which pretty much put two and two together all by itself. Parker had gone back to her old soul mate, and the rebound guy had seen fit to make himself scarce around them and all of their friends. I'd probably have done the same thing, in his place.

All of a sudden, I heard a car door slam in the driveway, and Maria came in through the front door only seconds later. "Uh, hey everybody. What's going on?"

"Little impromptu family meeting," Amy told her. "I kinda thought you'd be back already, though it's 'no big.'" I shook my head slightly at the use of dated slang on her part.

"I hope this isn't too big of a shock," Dad said as Maria sat down, and Tess pushed the game board aside. "We're probably going to be getting together more, all five of us, as time goes on. Of course, the wedding plans are still mostly up in the air, but at some point we're going to become just one family, more or less," that was with a nod to Sean, "and I think Amy and I would like it if that happens sooner, rather than later."

There was a bit of a silence. "Umm, okay by me, I guess," I muttered, having at least had a little warning that something like this was coming. Maria seemed totally shocked by the whole thing, which I can understand; this probably wasn't what she thought she'd be coming home to. "Meaning what, exactly?"

"We're not sure," Amy admitted.

"One thing I've been concerned about is my own role," Dad admitted. "I don't think it's a surprise to anyone here that I've been, well, seriously at loose ends ever since getting dismissed from my post. I've had a lot of stuff to work through, but I know that I need to find something else. This may sound old-fashioned, but I do strongly believe that a man with a family should be a provider, a bread-winner, and that's become especially important to me now that I have a fiancée and a soon-to-be stepdaughter."

"Now, I've looked into a few dependable, regular jobs..." he continued, but Amy interrupted.

"That he would have DESPISED going to, day after day," she said. "So I talked him out of taking any of them. This is an important decision, and I didn't want him to jump into anything just because it seemed like the responsible move."

"Umm... okay, so, what then??" Tess asked.

"Oh, boy... how do I say it?" Dad muttered, looking over at Amy, who nodded at him encouragingly.

"Just blurt it out!" Maria called out encouragingly.

"Okay, um... I'm going to be going into business for myself as a carpenter," he said.

There was a moment of silence. "For real??" Tess asked.

"Yes, for real!" Amy insisted. "Come on, I know a little about this sort of thing, and he's *really* good. It might be a little hard getting started, but I think he'll do REALLY well once people get a look at his work." She looked around the room as if daring us to disagree.

I cleared my throat. "Well... I'm happy to hear it, Dad, and wish you the best of luck. Not just because I stand to benefit from your good fortune, either."

He laughed. "Thanks so much."

"Yeah," Maria chimed in. "Kick some wood!" That got a small laugh from the room.

"Congratulations, sir, and good luck," Sean chimed in.

"And I'm going to be setting aside some time to work as his business manager," Amy continued, "because frankly he doesn't understand that sort of thing." Dad turned to look at her. "Well, honey, you don't! Should I not have told them that part?"

"Are you sure about that part?" I asked. "I mean, you specifically being his business manager? What with mixing the business and the pleasure, as it were... or should that be mixing business and family?"

"We're a team," Dad said, standing up and putting his arm around Amy's shoulders. "A team in life, why not a team in business??"

"Okay, great," Tess said, standing up. "C'mon, this calls for a celebration, doesn't it??"

--------------

(Tess):

The doorbell rang, and after a few seconds I could hear Mister Valenti moving to answer it. "If that's anyone, I'm not here," I called out for his benefit. Not quite sure why I didn't want to talk to anyone, but I sure as heck didn't.

The door opened, and a short soft conversation ensued, that I couldn't really make much out of. Then the sound of shutting came, and footsteps lightly tromping back down the porch stairs of the house. Jim walked over until he could see me through the open exit into the living room.

"When you get back," he said with just a slight trace of friendly humour, "I'm supposed to mention that a Martin Bryce dropped by looking for you. Didn't say why..." he drew that last word out pensively, looking at me as I sat there, still scowling a little at my printouts of bad jobs. "Though I suspect that I can guess."

I tried to connect a face with the name. Bryce... Martin Bryce?? For a long moment it was just a blank. And then I had the impression of a melancholy artist-type walking the hallways of West Roswell high with his shoulders hunched and a sad look in his sea-green eyes. A loner, a 'reject' as some of the other kids might say, but handsome in a darkish-brown hair and pale skin kind of way.

Was that really Martin? I couldn't be sure, and the cliche immediately went through my head about teenage girls checking such things out through a yearbook. I didn't actually have a high school yearbook, and the only person I knew who did was Isabel, who used hers for considerably... DIFFERENT things.

And then... Jim was still standing there and watching me, and I suddenly realized the only thing he could possibly mean. Did this Martin person, whoever he was, like me? Like me enough to go walking up to the house I lived in, (the house that the ex-sheriff owned to boot,) out of the blue?? Someone who hardly even knew me, knew nothing about what my life was really like? Knew nothing about who and what I really was?? It hardly seemed possible.

And then... something else hit me. How much had I known about what Max was like, what his life was like here in Roswell, when I decided I still loved him on earth? I'd known what he was, and I'd remembered a little of who he used to be. But by then I had known how much I myself had changed since the other lifetime. I should have realized...

I couldn't finish that thought. I burst up out of the chair, leaving my printed sheets where they lay, and brushed past Mister Valenti. The only thing on my mind was driving over to Isabel's place and asking if I could use her yearbook, even though I knew she was in the middle of packing to leave.

But that was before I stopped still in the living room, looking at all of Kyle's stuff scattered around the couch and on the coffee table. Including... his WRH yearbook, stacked on top of a couple of schoolbooks and underneath a few Buddha books. Of course!! How had I not thought to see if Kyle had one?

Jim was still watching me, and so I tipped the Buddhism books up on one side and extracted the yearbook out from underneath them, hurrying back as quickly as I could with it to my room and closing the door once inside.

B... Bryce... Martin. Yes, that was the face I had seen, vaguely, in my memories. Martin seemed a little -- cooler, in the photo, but that had probably been the point at the time. Organizations: literary magazine and model UN. Memories, hmm. Not much here that made any sense to me, not surprisingly. 'Long night, getting the words just right. Third city of comedy - *you* know what it is! Slovakia forever!! Will our heroes ever disarm the total conversion bomb and foil Doc Dastard's plan?' Hmm.

And his quote: "Whatever there is inside you that's unique or worthwhile, hold it up. Let it show for the world to see." Was that taken from a book or something, or was it original? It didn't seem familiar.

Well. I couldn't say why, but after all of this I did want to get to know young Mister Martin Bryce a little better... though probably not caught in a teenage dating ritual.

Just as I was closing the yearbook, my eye was caught again by a phrase in the middle of Martin's 'memories.' Slovakia forever?? What... what was that key term that Maria and Liz had been using for the other hybrids, long before I got to town? Czechoslovakians or something - it had popped up a few times since I came to Roswell, and I'd looked it up. Used to be a country in Eastern Europe, until the Soviet bloc fell and they started redrawing all the boundaries. That country had split into two, the Czech republic and... Slovakia.

Of course, it had to be a coincidence. Martin had been in the model UN, and they pretended to be ambassadors from far-off countries, maybe he had been representing Slovakia. Or for all I knew, he had family over there.

But what if it had something to do with me? a little voice inside me asked. Was it possible that this shy and unassuming young man knew something about our secret??

TO BE CONTINUED...


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

(Max):

Brody was waiting as I came down the stairs.

"Evans." I nodded hello. "Sorry I haven't had that much for you to do lately, but all of that should change now. That is, if you're still interested in putting in the hours this summer."

"Umm... yeah, of course I am," I said after only a moment's hesitation. What was this going to be about??

"Okay, well, then..." He looked around, and then fixed me with an intense stare. "Maybe I'm being too paranoid, but not out here. Come on." He led the way up to his office, and checked a few things on his computer while I sat down.

"Now, I have to admit that what I'm about to say sounds strange, even by my standards." Brody's English accent tends to get a bit more pronounced when he's stressed, and it was coming out clearly now. "But you know me, right Evans? Max," he corrected himself suddenly. "I may be a bit... eccentric, by some people's standards, but I'm not a raving loon. When I make something my business, I do the research and I find out what's what."

"What're you leading up to, Mister Davis?" I asked. "Just say it... by now there's very little that surprises me."

He flicked his gaze at something on the desk... was it some kind of counter-surveillance device?? -- and dropped his voice. "I have... acquired some - *apparently* solid information about a government installation holding the remains of a crashed space vehicle of extraterrestrial origin. Possibly even THE ship from the '47 crash, though none of my sources appear to have reliable confirmation on that."

I blinked in surprise. Was this real? As Brody said, most of the time he did really have a lead when he thought he had a lead, though it wasn't always what he thought it was. There WAS really a ship that had crashed in forty-seven, I knew that much, of course, and there might have been others. "So... what do you plan to do with this information??" I asked him.

"Find out more. Find out everything I can. Maybe even... get into this installation, if possible, and have a look for myself. For OURSELVES, I mean." I looked at him in shock. "Evans, you're quite a remarkable young man, and you have nearly as many questions you want answered as I do. You could be quite an asset to this endeavor, if you choose to be." He fixed me with an intense stare, his dark blue eyes drilling into my face. "On the other hand, I'm fairly certain that you have been keeping your own secrets, Max."

I nearly jumped out of the chair. "I, I..."

"It's alright," he assured me. "You have your own reasons, I understand that. But... for this, I have to have your word. Whatever you may learn based on the information I provide... I learn as well. Nothing kept back. If you can't promise me that, then I'll find other duties to assign to you and pursue this on my own. Do I make myself sufficiently clear??"

"Yes, you do," I said softly.

"And your decision? If you need some time to consider it, that's all right, but I'd like to ask that you hold what I've just told you in confidence for the time being."

"I understand," I said quickly. "If I agree, is it alright if I mention to some of my friends what we'll be up to? People who can be trusted?"

Brody considered that. "All right."

"Then I'm in." I wasn't altogether sure about this... having made this commitment to Brody, I didn't want to go back on it, and I really wasn't sure what discovering the ship might lead to. On the other hand, it wasn't an opportunity that I couldn't just walk away from. "When do we start?"

"Right now," Brody said, indicating the computer, "There are a number of files for you to bring yourself up to speed on. We'll talk about it all then."

-------

(Isabel):

Alex called when I was on my last trip of carrying stuff into the dorms - the cell phone ringing surprised me and I dropped my makeup case. He seemed a little surprised that I was on campus already, as if he'd lost track of time. Told me to say hi to Max, and I didn't bother telling him yet that Max was suddenly busy at the UFO center, and Kyle had volunteered to drive me up. We agreed to meet near the library for lunch - that was where we'd found him, Liz and Tess and I, when we came up to visit him over the weekend, talking with his student advisor from the Quantum project.

While counting off the minutes until I was supposed to meet Alex, I wandered about, getting the lay of the little suite. There was a short hallway, with four small bedrooms along one side. On the other, an open living room/lounge type space and a small kitchenette, one more bedroom, and two bathrooms. "Hi," a red-haired girl said, stepping out from the furthest bedroom door from the main entry into the suite. "You're in B?"

"Uh, yeah," I agreed. That had been my designation... the second room over on the backside, pretty much opposite the kitchenette. "Isabel Evans. And you?"

"Marcie Stuart," she said, shaking my hand. "I enrolled late last year and got locked out of a few of my prerequisites, so I'm sticking around to take them now so I'm not behind going into sophomore. And you??"

Ahh, I nodded, deciphering that. Marcie had already been through her freshman year, then. "I graduated from high school a little early, and I'm taking a few courses... well, to find out if I'm really ready for college, I guess, as much as anything."

"Ahh." Marcie nodded, evaluating this. "Who's the guy who was helping you move in? Boyfriend??"

"You noticed him?" I asked. "Why didn't you introduce... ahh." I was starting to guess the answer.

"What, and get asked to carry things myself? Didn't feel like it." She laughed softly, and somehow I didn't get the impression that she was selfish, just... I'm not sure what, actually. Not sure if I'd have volunteered to help out a total stranger in a similar circumstance, though I might have a chance to find out, with at least two members of the suite apparently yet to arrive.

"No, that isn't my boyfriend, just a friend who didn't have anything much to do today and volunteered to drive my brother's Jeep back home to Roswell."

Marcie nodded, taking that in. "But there *is* a boyfriend in the picture?"

"Yes," I admitted.

"Staying back home in Roswell while you fly free on campus?"

I laughed softly. "Actually, he's been here a few days already. He's a genius and he's working on this computer research project."

Her eyes widened in sincere astonishment. "Well, now that's a twist I didn't expect. High-school sweethearts, away from their parents for the whole summer..." She looked at me appraisingly. "Did you know he'd be here when you applied for classes?"

"Can't put anything over on you," I said, a little ambivalently.

"Well, you won't get any trouble from me. I've got an on-campus boyfriend myself... well, he isn't actually on-campus at the moment, but close enough. It sucks that these suites are not exactly well laid-out for entertaining..."

"I think that might be the point," I muttered under my breath. "From what I've seen of Alex's room, I'll probably be spending a lot of time over there -- no offense."

"None taken - where is he?"

"Umm..." I tried to remember the detail. "Rhodes hall, fourth floor, east wing, north side."

"Oh, yeah, those aren't bad, compared to this place at least." So, d'you wanna go take a bit of a walk around?"

I looked at my watch again, out of pure reflex or something because I *knew* I didn't have time for that. "Rain check, okay? I gotta jet."

-----------

(Alex):

Of course that day, the afternoon that Isabel came to campus, *would* be the day that Doctor Pryor had decided to try my code out for the first time, on his 'most challenging sample ever.' There was an uncaught exception, an error condition that none of the error-handling routines that had been programmed in would cover, and I completely blanked on how to patch the system. One of the undergrad students had to come to my rescue, and then the super Quantum computer went all Deep Thought on us and wouldn't admit anything other than it was working on the problem, no estimated completion time. Still, I couldn't just slip out while everybody else was waiting to see if there would be a quick progress update.

Finally we adjourned, except for Luis, who had brought some food in an insulated lunch bag and was quite prepared to monitor the connection until everyone else got back. I dashed out of the lab, stopped at a drinking fountain to get a handful of water and use it on my hair, smoothing it back and trying to straighten it, and then dashing off towards the library. The session hadn't quite let out on time, and Isabel would probably be waiting for me already.

I ran out of the computer science building heading in the wrong direction, of course.

By the time I finally got there, I spotted the cascade of golden blonde hair first, slightly wavy today, as she sat down at a table facing away from me. Was she upset?? It was hard to tell without seeing her face.

Just as I was about to call Isabel's name, she turned to look over her shoulder and saw me, and her eyes lit up. She was grinning by the time she stood up and faced me, spreading her arms wide.

For a long moment, I was too stunned to move, completely caught up in a half-remembered fantasy all about her. Had I dreamed about my Isabel recently, one of THOSE dreams? Or even been dream-walked by my hybrid sweetie... there was no way I was about to ask her about that right now. I shook out of the trance with an incredible effort and hugged Isabel, the present-and-real Isabel standing in front of me, hello. "Come on," I mumbled, trying to keep the excitement in my pants from being too noticeable to either her or anyone else as I kept an arm slung around her shoulder and led her away. "I know the perfect place."

It was only after we were forty feet away from the courtyard that I realized maybe I should have sat down there with her and tried to let the memories from the dream fade a little first. Oh well.

"You're a little late, not that I'm upset," Isabel said, quickly disclaiming herself. "Anything go wrong?"

"Not really... there was a bungled exception, but we restarted," I explained airily, suddenly hoping that that change hadn't somehow subtly ruined the logic. No one would be too impressed with me if the Quantum 3 was tied up all day running this test, only to end up with gibberish at the end of it. Well, there wasn't anything to be done about that now -- and even so, it wasn't like I'd get booted off the project immediately, I was sure. There'd be an opportunity to work with some of the junior members... Luis and Kristin maybe, and hopefully correct the mistake. "It'll take about eight hours to find out if the test worked, though."

"Really - that long??"

"Deciphering languages is really complicated," I told her. "Even with the most powerful computers ever developed, it takes time. So... how're you doing? Considering how early you must have gotten up for packing and driving... and unpacking too, you look incredible!"

"Flattery will get you... well, far enough to be interesting," she teased. We chatted more along the way past the student union, about her trip up, (turned out it was Kyle who had driven her up, because Max had had something come up at the last minute,) and latest developments on Amy DeLuca's wedding. I just listened, not having any news that seemed particularly interesting to share.

I almost missed the door, standing as it did plain and unmarked on the outside of a red-walled building. "Come on." It opened when I turned the knob, and I led Isabel into the tiny, darkly lit French bistro that Luis had told me about. "I think you'll like this place."

-------------

(Liz):

Dad was working the grill that day, because we were so short on hands, and he passed out a Sigourney Weaver with space fries and a Plutonium platter. I delivered those to table three, took an order for table one, filled up a few water glasses, and by the time I was back, there was a brown paper bag and plastic drink glass sitting on the counter.

"What's this??"

"Delivery order," he said, carefully flipping some burgers.

I was stunned speechless for a second. "But... things are CRAZY in here!" I pointed out, just as a reminder. "We don't DO delivery, as a general thing, and..."

He stepped up to the window and took my hand through it. "Liz... everything's gonna be okay. Maria just called, she and Michael are a minute and a half away. Once Michael gets set up in the kitchen, I can help Maria cover tables until you get back."

I smiled. "But..."

"This is for a very important customer," he said, waving at the bag and suppressing a wink with an effort. His eyes were twinkling with some unsaid joke. "Could you run it over for me? It's just across the street."

I looked into his face for a moment, then picked up the bag. "Okay. Back in a minute." What very important customer? I tried to ignore anybody who might be trying to signal me as I slipped out the door.

Just across the street... who could it be? Brody?? I checked the address on the little slip stapled to the bag - yeah, it was the UFO center all right. Since when was Brody a very important customer? I mean, yeah, okay, Maria often ran Galaxy subs over to him, especially last year... and he did try to tip her a hundred dollars that one time, yeah, but she gave it back.

It was only after I was heading up the stairs to Brody's office in the center that I actually noticed the slip read 'Max Evans.'

Well, since I hadn't seen Max around anywhere else, I poked my head into the office anyway, and there he was, sitting behind the desk at the computer. "Someone order a Will Smith, Alien blast and... chili orbit rings??"

He looked up at me and smiled that incredible smile. "Hey baby." An instant's pause, and then, "What's wrong??"

Huh... I hadn't realized that my frustration was showing so clearly on my face. "Oh, nothing big... just busy across the street. We're short on hands."

Max's face fell in guilt. "Oh my god, I didn't even think of that... and I asked for you to run it over. I'm really sorry!"

"It's okay," I assured him. "I'm covered... for a few minutes at least." I stepped over, putting the food down on a corner of the desk far from the computer, and signaled Max up with a small gesture. Slipped an arm around and kissed him softly on the lips. "And being with you, even if only for a minute, has an incredible way of recharging my batteries."

He grinned and kissed me back for a second. "Would you mind if I went for the grub now? Sorry, but *totally* famished."

I had to laugh at the way that he asked. "Go right ahead." He pushed past, every fiber of my being aware of the contact for a second, and pulled a folding chair up to the far side of the desk, unpacking the paper bag. Somewhat uncertainly, I sat down in the big chair - I would have to be leaving in another two or three minutes, before Max was done eating. Max looked over at me.

"Ooh, you probably better not look at that..." he waved vaguely at the off button on the monitor, and with a little poor grace I flicked it.

"So, how long are you going to be sealed up in here?" I asked. "I thought you were supposed to be driving Isabel up to Las Cruces today anyway.

"Kyle took over for me," Max said apologetically after finishing his first bite of burger. "As far as how long I'll be sealed in here -- until I get up to speed with all of these files... and possibly longer, brainstorming with Brody. After that, we may be all over the place." He must have seen my face fall. "Don't worry - there isn't anything on this earth more important to me than you. There'll be time for us."

I tried to plaster a smile on my face. "Yeah. Of course." And yet, a little voice in my head pointed out, if I was Max's highest priority, why hadn't he asked me before accepting this mysterious assignment that sure seemed like it'd be keeping him pretty busy?

I forced that thought back and had another, more constructive one. Maybe I should find something else to do this summer, that I can occupy myself with while Max is chasing hither and yon.

I couldn't tell if Max was aware of any of what I was thinking, but he reached out and grabbed my hand. "Are you off work tomorrow night?"

"Uhh... yeah," I agreed, hoping that the schedule wouldn't change.

"I'll pick you up at seven. Wear something nice... sexy, not that you have to work very hard at that." He laughed softly, the rich sound of it making me melt inside, as usual.

"Okay," I said, and got up, wanting to end the visit on a high note. "See you then, if not before." He hiked his chair closer to the table so I could pass him, and I kissed him on the temple on my way out.

----------

(Michael):

"Are you sure you want to do this??" I asked her as I started to nudge the car up the narrow road.

"I want to do it if you want to do it," Maria assured me. "Are *you* sure??"

I only had to think of that for a moment before the answer came, and along with it, a slow smile I could feel spreading across my face. "Yeah... I've been fantasizing about this for years, I have to admit. Doing it in the back seat of a car parking at the top of Passion Peak."

"Aww," she let out, patting my knee, and starting to rub it. "After all, we've been to this much trouble, we might at least give it a try."

She was right about that. The subject had arising over a late dinner, and we'd swung by Maria's place to get ready for this particular tryst. Maria had changed out of the clothes she had been wearing, and was now wearing a loose, fairly short black skirt, and a short-sleeved soft pink crop top... and no underwear. That was something we had agreed in dirty talk across the table. Agreed for me as well -- I'd given up my under-shorts and Maria had hidden them away somewhere in her room that her mother wouldn't be likely to find them until I had a chance to come collect them again.

It wasn't long before we were up at the top of the small rocky mountain that had been dubbed 'Passion peak' by horny young people, way back when it became one of the official places "to park" (i.e. make out in a car,) in Roswell. As I maneuvered my car into a good spot, I was struck by the impressiveness of seeing the lights of the town, and the desert horizon all around it.

Maria took in the view for a long moment herself, then turned to me. "So... any particular notion of how you wanna do this??"

I thought about it a minute, and shrugged. "You got any ideas??"

She pondered a moment. "Back seat, me on top??"

"You think the roof's high enough for that??"

"If I need to, I'll bend forward," she assured me, tweaking my earlobe teasingly. We got out of the vehicle through our own doors and kissed a little standing up, leaning against the passenger side door. After a few minutes, getting into a little light petting through clothes, I reached up a hand to tenderly caress the bare skin near her collarbone, left uncovered by the neckline of her pink shirt, and she gasped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I... I had a flash," she reported, her eyes closed, her voice trembling. "I'm sure that was it. I saw you... little hatchling boy you, running away from a light, from an outstretched hand..." She took a deep breath, almost a sob it seemed, and continued. "Max's hand, it must have been. Walking into the darkness, the desert, away from the only people who loved you." She opened her eyes, locking on mine with an amazing intensity, though tears were slipping free.

"You've lived a lonely life, Michael Guerin, but you don't need to be alone any more. Your heart has always let mine in, and you're noble, and loyal, and generous. That's why I love you." She let out a sob again and wiped the tears away. "Did you get one too??"

"No," I said with a smile. "Do me." I waved vaguely that she should do something with her hand in the vicinity of me head, as she had done.

She did, leaning down and running her thumb softly across my cheek, and suddenly the image was popping up in my head. Maria was standing, staring defiantly and with so much determination in her expression... I remembered this moment. I had been there the first time -- it was the instant she realized I had gotten behind the driver's seat of the Jetta and put it in gear, out at the gas station, the time I got it into my head to go to Marathon.

"I see you," I told her. "I could see you a thousand times and each one realize a new facet to your being, and each is lovelier than the last. Maria. Maria, Maria, Maria. I love you so much."

Maria hummed, in sheer delight. The rapport between us was wide open, and I could feel exactly what it was like for Maria, almost as if I had breasts of my own to be molested, and a place to be penetrated... and oddly that notion wasn't at all disturbing. Everything that was happening between the two of us felt exactly right.

And between what Maria was experiencing, and what I was feeling from myself, and what Maria had dubbed 'the alien feedback cycle,' we were rapidly being boosted towards the biggest climax ever. I felt my body collapse against the seat, and Maria's torso fall forward to land on top of me, and then that odd sensation of my awareness being propelled out of its usual body.

This wasn't like the usual experience from then on, though. I was aware of Maria's essence, her energy, near mine -- that much was as ever. But our psyche's fell quickly through some kind of vortex, and were propelled through a long, twisting tunnel filled with strange colored lights... after a long moment, we emerged out through another aperture and...

Back into our own bodies again. But not as before - not ourselves in the same place and time, but --

-------

We stood on a wide desert plain, pretty featureless as far as the eye could see, except for the crash-landed Granilith not far behind us of course, and the people.

Max and Tess hung back for this stage, and Maria and I stood side by side, still wearing our earth clothes, a little grubby from the hair-raising express journey... t-shirt and jeans for me as usual, a short skirt and tank top for Maria.

Watching us were a crowd of about thirty alien beings, fairly close to human people in the general details I guess. They had two legs each, two arms, and one head. They seemed to have four fingers on each hand including the thumb, from what I could tell, with skin tones mostly in the gray through blue to purple stretch, hair that ranged in lengths from buzz cuts to almost floor length, featuring colors like black, white, red, and green. (Often several of those colors in the same person's hair.) I couldn't make out much in the way of eye colors: a few of the natives closest to use seemed to have irises of silver, gold, and aquamarine, but I couldn't be sure about any of those other than the last.

Aside from those noticeable changes, they seemed to be quite similar to humans indeed... down to the muscular patterns on the torso and the, err, sexually distinctive characteristics, as far as I could tell. Faces seemed a little different, but I couldn't put my finger on how - none of those weird ridges and projections they have on 'Star trek' and such. All of the same parts as a human face I guess, just put together and proportioned slightly different... it was disconcerting to focus on it, so I decided not to.

There were a couple of basic types of outfits that I could distinguish... two-piece jumpsuit type uniforms (military or otherwise institutional?) peasant-style blouses and tunics, and more complicated clothes that might be... business wear??

"A greeting, Rath Far-selezir," the alien man nearest to me said, holding his right hand up with the fingers splayed, except for the two furthest away from his thumb, held closely together. "You have returned, as the Royal supporters promised us you would. I am Kelim, your -- first cousin, once removed, and I have led our house for the past eleven revolutions." He was the one with the turquoise eyes, as well as blue-purple skin and black hair about three inches long.

About this point it occurred to me to wonder how it was that I was understanding this guy... there was no way in the world that he was talking English. Was there some sort of automated translator?? No, I had heard only the words that he had spoken -- and they definitely had NOT been English. But I had understood him, and I spoke in his own language, without the slightest trace of doubt or hesitation.

"I am not Rath," I started, sticking to the script that we had all agreed on. Accepting our past lives literally seemed far too big a can of worms to open up willingly. "No man returns after his body is burned, through the work of science. I come before you as a relative of Rath Far-selezir, a son or partial clone of him, whichever is easier for you to accept. His heir, if you find me worthy. But my name is Michael Guerin."

Kelim nodded, a little taken aback, but clearly doing his best to continue in stride. "You bear the seal of our house," he continued softly. "I accept you, by whatever name and whatever relationship you ask. Meye-kehll..." he mangled the pronunciation of my name, but I had to smile at it. "Cousin. We welcome you home... to a home that you have never set foot on before, I suppose."

"Thank you, Kelim," I answered, hoping that I wasn't misspeaking his name just as badly. "Cousin."

"And... might I inquire of your companion?" he asked, gesturing faintly in Maria's direction. I realized that a lot of the watchers seemed to be paying more attention to her than to me - maybe they could sense that she had no Antarian DNA.

Ohh. "This is Maria DeLuca... my beloved." I took her hand and urged her slightly forward. "And my betrothed." I caught sight of the gold ring on her finger, the slight glint of a tiny reddish gem visible on it, and grinned at the thought of it.

"Your... betrothed," Kelim repeated, seeming thrown by this. (Possibly he was still lost in expectations that Rath would return with Princess Vilandra by his side.) And then he brightened visibly. "Have you a marriage date in mind, my lord? Should an announcement of the engagement be distributed publicly??"

Now it was my turn to be thrown, and I turned to look at Maria, who seemed similarly shocked. "Umm... cousin, we haven't even begun to get used to things here." An awkward pause ensued. "What would you suggest?"

The alien man considered this for a moment, and called over a woman in a long flowing gown of something that looked like yellow linen, and they consulted in low voices. "If it is not unacceptable to you, Micall, Mehreeya, I would suggest to hold the bonding ceremony at moon's noon a little over three periods from now. I would be honored to perform the ceremony myself, and we could hold it at the Mecsh-tar gathering place."

I wasn't quite sure about the time references, 'periods' and moons-noon, but that didn't seem too far away. I looked at Maria, who shrugged a little helplessly. "Umm... can I ask why?"

"Yes," he replied, "but perhaps we should speak of it later." I was grateful enough to nod my acceptance of that. Kelim bowed and melted back into the crowd, and after a moment a woman, dressed in a decorated jumpsuit, stepped away from two others, male and female, who she had been hurriedly consulting with. I realized suddenly that the crowd was a little bigger, and there were what looked like hovercraft of some sort sitting nearby... which presumably some of the extra people, at least, had arrived in.

I think this new alien lady was one of the new arrivals, because otherwise I believe I'd have noticed her earlier. By human standards, as it were, she seemed to look in her late thirties maybe, and quite pretty, though her face still threw me a little. Her hair was past shoulder length and intensely wavy, its color changing in streaks from cherry red to an orange that didn't look as if it would be too out of place on a human redhead. Her skin, smooth and soft, was slate gray, but as she approached Max and the rest of us, I realized that her eyes were a soft, light brown, a shade I hadn't noticed yet on any of these Antarians. Between the orange hair and brown eyes, I found myself wondering if she was quarter human or something.

She addressed Max without introducing herself. "You claim the legacy of Zan ril-Sanren??"

"I do," Max said simply after a second. "My name is Max Evans. May I ask who you are?"

"My name is Raydeleen," she replied evenly. "I am the *Gehhrvehlkka* of her majesty, the Queen widow, Alinda dil Sanren." She nodded as if the implications of that should be completely obvious.

Of course, they weren't. "Umm... we have studied the language of our original home world hastily," Max began diplomatically. "I... I don't believe I'm familiar with the significance of that term, Gervellkah." It was as if a blip had fried out the mental translation when Raydeleen had spoken it - which had to be because it wasn't in the limited conversational vocabulary.

Rayde, (as I started thinking of her for shorthand,) smiled a little -- tolerantly. "It isn't the easiest notion to grasp," she admitted. "Essentially, I have taken an oath to serve as her... her personal proxy. Her majesty's health is not good, and she cannot lead the rebellion personally as she would like to. But there is no conventional substitute for her as royal figurehead, so, by the bonds of the Gehhrvehl, I replace her."

I blinked in appreciation. It seemed a novel solution to the problem, at least. Rayde turned to Tess. "And whose clone are you supposed to be?"

"Umm, err..." Tess muttered, caught by surprise at the question. "Queen Ava, of the clan Derven-see out of..."

"Thrilacta," Rayde finished along with her. "Good enough. What about Princess Vilandra? Was there not supposed to be also a hybrid bearing her essence?" Hmmm... did they know anything about the duplicates, that there had been two of each of us? Well, I wasn't going to be the first to mention it.

"My sister, Isabel, did not come here with us," Max supplied. "She wasn't sure if she would be welcome, what with the stories of Vilandra..."

"We know better than to believe those stories here," Rayde commented, "but the point is well taken." She paused for a moment, then moved on to a new topic. "If we gather out here in the open too long, it might tempt the usurper into a raid. He has spying eyes watching the entire planet from orbit." She looked up meaningfully.

"As do we," a swarthy Antarian man put in, laughing. "Hidden more carefully. And the tyrant will find out that his satellites will fail him when we are ready to make our move, hahah!!"

"Enough of that for now, Jevell," Rayde said to him in a soft aside. Turning to us, "We'll need to get the Granilith out of here to a secure location under cover, and I think our hover jet-craft will be able to tow it if it's levitating, but not drag it along the ground. I don't suppose you'd hand over the key, one royal to another, as it were??"

I turned to whisper a warning to Max, but it wasn't necessary. As nice as these people were being to us, we had no proof that any of them were who they said they were. They could be Kivar's people, playing out an intricate ruse for exactly that reason -- to get control of the big G back.

For anything short of handing over the keys, it seemed like our best route was to play along, trusting in caution and our own powers to get us out if these Antarians turned on us. But we couldn't take that step of ultimate faith yet... though it reflected well on Rayde that she realized it would probably be this way.

"Yeah, I'd rather not," Max agreed. "I can try to get it hovering for you myself..."

-------

And all of a sudden, like some timer had quietly counted off its last few seconds and went BING! I got flicked out of that Michael body on Antar, through the strange and insubstantial conduit that connected 'there' with 'here', and...

"MAN," Maria's voice groaned. "That was FREAKY!"

It took me a few seconds to remember where I really was, or where Maria was. Then it began to come back to me... Passion peak, sex in the back seat, and then--

"*What* was freaky??" I asked. The two of us were lying in the backseat, arms around each other and pretty snuggly given the available room or lack of it. Maria was still on top of me, and I realized that our private parts were still pretty much exposed to each other... and exposed in general, except for the slight protection her skirt offered. But then, considering how things had gotten that way, did I really care?? It was a strange time to be getting modest.

Wait a second - back to the point. Maria hadn't answered me, so I put the question. "Did you... did you have the sense of being somewhere else just now? Not just a flash or an out-of-body, but being... maybe being INSIDE your body in another time??"

"Uhh... yeah," Maria whispered, and her soft voice sent a shock through my whole system. "I was... were you there too? In the future; on... on your home planet??" She sounded doubtful, and I jumped in reassuringly.

"And we talked to people..." I agreed. "Aliens. A cousin of mine, and a woman named Rayde something..."

"And you told them..." She started filling in details, and I did too, and there was quickly no doubt that we had experienced the same thing. And then came the big question. "Was it... real?? Was it a true... thingumee, visit to the future? Or just some kind of weird fantasy that we shared??"

"I... I don't know," I admitted. "We've both experienced an out-of-body experience before with these mega-orgasms, and I'm not sure if those are imaginary or a real, temporary disassociation of... of our energy, our essences, from our bodies. I've heard a theory that out of body experiences happen when the brain has too little sensory information to build up a model of the body from inside, or something like that."

"On the other hand, if we really do leave our bodies briefly... we both had the sensation of traveling through a wormhole or something like that. What if there's a non-physical connection between this place and time, and that one??" I sighed. "There's no way to know."

"Well... maybe there..." Maria propped herself up to look at me. "Maybe this wouldn't prove anything, but I wanna try again. If your notion is right, we probably won't have another chance. Once we leave this place and time..."

"We've left that time already," I pointed out.

"Not by much, and it has to stretch in time for a little bit, because we got back okay."

I shook my head and focused on the major point. "You want to go for another super-O right now, or within a small enough window of time to still catch that wormhole, assuming that it exists??" She was giving me the puppy-dog eyes in the deep light. "Come on, we're already drained. If the payoff with this kind of lovemaking is high, then so is the energy expended - we've figured that out the hard way."

"I want to try," she told me simply. "I can't do it without you, for obvious reasons, so I'll just ask. Will you do it for me??"

I couldn't fight back a grin. "Oh, the things I sacrifice for you." Maria laughed. "Let's do this the smart way though."

There were some sugary drinks and salty snack foods in the car, and I insisted we each eat a little and drink more than a little. Replenish... uhh, you know, stuff. Fluids, energy... essential electrolytes, I don't know. We also each took a little time to take care of personal details... I stashed the used condom in an old plastic bag so I could get rid of it easily later, and she got a fresh one out. "You okay with being on top this time??" Maria asked when we were ready to get started again.

"Yeah," I muttered, "when we get to the main event. Start sitting side by side??" And so we got into the back seat of the car next to each other; I kissed her long and deep, and she answered back with her tongue. and our hands started to wander again, slipping under items of clothing. After a few minutes, Maria took her mouth away from mine, and pulled my T-shirt up and off of me with a single motion, (which surprised me and impressed me, I have to say.) As she began to kiss and lick my neck and chest, I melted into the sensation but wanted to do something to return the favor, which, as usual, the position didn't make easy. After all, we were on a clock here.

And then, an idea struck me. Running my hand over Maria's upper arm, I tried to connect to her and stimulate a pleasure sensation in the nerves on her skin. "Oohh..." Maria breathed, the word bursting out of her in mid-kiss and leaving a little dribble of drool near my right nipple. "WHAT did you just *do*???"

I grinned and switched arms, bringing my left up to the right side of her neck and her ear, which I've known for a long time is a sensitive area for her. "I guess this is foreplay, Czechoslovakian-style." And I did it again, harder.

"My gawd," she breathed, "you just figure this out NOW??" She grinned, presumably in memory of the sensation, and then pouted. "But I can't do that back to you."

"You do pretty well the human way," I assured her. "Just the touch of your skin against mine turns me on like a Christmas tree."

She laughed at that, sexily. "Okay then, come on spaceboy, let's kick it up a notch."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

(Michael, still):

"So... how do you like the Rynec??" Kelim asked us. The three of us were sitting in a fairly pleasant, private room, with the walls, floors, and ceiling all stone. A house made of stone, or a chamber in an underground labyrinth?? I couldn't really tell. There was a small lamp on the table that threw a fluorescent-ish light up towards the ceiling without getting it in our eyes, and around the edges of the room reddish light filtered in through cracks... sunlight from outside, or more artificial lamps intended to give the impression of natural light? (The sun of Antar was considerably redder than Earth's.)

I recognized that he'd been asking us a question, and since I didn't really remember anything about the taste of the beverage he'd offered us, I put the green crystal cup to my lips and sipped again. "It's not bad," I admitted. "Got a bit of an odd aftertaste, but I think I like it."

My alien cousin nodded, relieved. "I had no idea how it would suit the palate of a... a human hybrid."

"It suits the palate of a full human damn well," Maria laughed. There was only a little of the reddish-purple juice left in her cup, and she drained it and set it down on the table, just a little expectantly.

"Would you like some more?" Kelim asked, blinking his eyes repeatedly in a mannerism that I suspected, for Antarians, was something very close to a chuckle.

"Please!!" He picked up the pitcher and refilled Maria's cup quickly. "Sorry if I'm being a pig," Maria continued, "but the food and drink they were able to scrape up for me on the Granilith didn't really sit right. None of the crossbreeds seemed to have any trouble."

"It's alright," he assured her. "You're family here, as far as I'm concerned; what's mine is yours."

"Gee, thanks," Maria said after a moment, blushing slightly, and took a sip of her Rynac.

"So, um..." I breathed in deeply and nerved myself to plunge in. "You were saying something about a bonding ceremony... in three periods, at some Mech-star place?"

"Yes," Kelim finally said, startling me a little. "I... I realize that it's a little callous to talk of using your engagement for political capital, but..." He shrugged, a gesture that seemed to be in common with our people. (Or had he seen us using that mannerism and imitated it??) "I have the best interests of our house to consider, and the good of the Royalist movement. Not to mention what I feel is best for the planet and the entire stellar neighborhood."

I decided not to argue the point. "You really think our... our marriage would help with any of that?? Why the hell would anybody care?"

"You are the genetic heir of Rath," he started. "Many of the common folk will take you for Lord Rath returned from the dead... no matter how you try to spin your return away from that interpretation," and he gave me a piercing look, "there will be no way to stop them from thinking that."

"Word is already spreading around the planet about how the four of you have arrived, and the most unexpected part is... well, is your part in this, Maria, and your connection to Michael. This was what you planned, is it not, that your return would help swing public opinion back to loyalty to the old Royal family and away from Kivar's cadre of insurgents??"

"Well, yeah," Maria said after a moment, beating me to it.

"Then, the best way to capitalize on the attention you have already attracted is with... is with a grand spectacle," he admitted. "A wedding certainly sounds good... though we can't open it up to the public on a planetary basis for fear of assassins. But the story will spread, and reproductions will pass from one person to another to entire crowds. Rath of Selezir... or a reasonable approximation," he corrected before I could object, "taking his beloved human princess for lifelong bond-mate in a glamorous moonlit ceremony..."

"Wait a second," Maria finally managed to burst in. "I don't know what kind of conclusions you may have jumped to, but I'm not royalty or anything. About as far from it as you can get, actually."

Kelim smiled at her. "I was speaking metaphorically, actually..." he raised up a hand as if to cup her cheek in his hand, but stayed about two inches away from her skin. "The beautiful, emotive, courageous stranger from a strange land. But come to think of it, I don't think it would be any harm if a... an unfounded rumor, " he flicked his eyes again in that 'chuckle' mode, "about your royal bloodlines were to leak out. Aside from the four of you and any you tell, who is to know the difference? And there is the folk archetype in our culture of the lovely princess from Far Away..."

Maria had to laugh, surrendering. "Yeah, yeah, we have that one too. Though Prince Charming is probably a little more popular these days." She turned and shot a sweet glance at me sidelong.

"So... have you reached a decision?" Kelim asked us.

I looked over at Maria, and she shrugged, and nodded just a little, and I smiled at her. "You can start making the arrangements, but I think we both want to be involved... we'll probably have a few human touches we want to add to the festivities, if that isn't a problem."

"Of course not," he assured me.

"Is there any way we could push it back another period?" Maria asked.

"If only I could," he told her gallantly. "But that time the height of moon's noon will fall during the daytime, and you lose the full glamour of it if you move back or forwards... or if you can't see the moon at all for the sunshine."

"Figures," I muttered.

"And the period after that, we're getting into the stormy season in this area," he finished.

"Plus, I know Max is going to want to make his move against Kivar before too long," I added. "Which suggests that I'll be busy helping him and also that if we wait long it'll be too late for any political capital from the wedding to really help him out." I turned to Maria. "Come on. It'll be okay."

She nodded, putting on her best smile. "Three periods. All right, I'm in."

"Good, we couldn't do it without you," Kelim said gravely. I looked at him... that was just what I had been about to say, but from me it would have been a joke. Somehow I suspected my Antarian friend was completely serious.

After a long moment, he continued on. "You mentioned something about different human customs, and maybe that explains this: when you first said you were betrothed, I was a little surprised because neither of you are wearing pledge pendants."

He said no more than that, and for a second I didn't understand. Then... "You mean you guys use pendants to signify engagement? Neck jewelry??" I confirmed.

"Well, yes... and later bonding pendants are exchanged at the wedding ceremony. Why... how do human beings do it?" Kelim seemed just as caught by surprise at my reaction as I had been by his statement.

"Umm... rings, mostly," Maria put in. "The girl gets a ring at the engagement, usually a fancy one. At the wedding, both the bride and groom get one, considerably plainer." She put her left hand forward a bit, but didn't mention the pretty gem that glittered on her third finger directly.

Kelim looked at the ring, then at Michael, and smiled. "You sealed your betrothal with THAT?" He didn't seem offended, just surprised at something that, for him, was slightly outrageous, but then, it would never have occurred to him before now.

"Didn't really have the resources for anything else."

"Well, if you'll allow us, I think we can fix that, unless you want to leave her with just the ring for sentimental reasons?" There was a pause. "Either way, I think we can arrange for you to get a traditional pledge pendant to formally give to Michael, Maria -- you wouldn't object to that, would you? Without it, I'm not quite sure people will believe that you're really engaged."

"Oh, sure," Maria agreed offhandedly. "Speaking of making arrangements..." she waved down generally at her clothes, "any chance we could use some cleaning facilities and get new clothes? There wasn't any way to take much luggage into the Granilith -- or to shower while we were en route."

Again, Kelim took just a fraction of a second to decipher her meaning. "Oh, yes -- of course. Just a moment, I'll need to talk to someone about things... you'll need living quarters too, of course." He stood up, crossing his hands quickly in a momentary gesture of respect, and hurried off. I stood up too and realized that we were indeed in a stone house of some sort, but one that seemed to be connected with the other buildings in the area through underground tunnels as well as pathways through the open air. After only a few seconds I heard footsteps coming back up the stairs from the tunnel Kelim had disappeared into - but it wasn't Kelim, coming back so quickly. It was...

"Max!" Maria exclaimed from behind me - I hadn't realized she had stood up from the table as well. "I'm so glad to see another human face, what have you been..." she trailed off.

Max looked over his shoulder at a little... a little Antarian toddler, climbing ever so carefully up the shallow steps by himself. His skin was pale lavender, almost hot pink, and he was wearing ice green overalls on top of what looked like a blue tunic shirt. As he looked up to see the stairs ahead of him to Max, and then to the top of the landing, where Maria and I were standing, I could see that his eyes were wide and the irises a very dark burgundy, almost black-ish.

"Aww, oh my gawd, he's so cute," Maria said. "Who is he? Whose is he??"

Max smiled, stepped back and very gently took the tired little youngster into his arms, as he emitted a vague but ineffectual protest and then quieted down. "His name is Mardelek, and he's... my first cousin, once removed, or something like that. His mother's here in the refuge, part of Alinda's household here."

Maria looked forward and cooed softly out of her throat at the little tyke, while I hung back a bit and did the mental figuring. "So... first cousin -- does that mean he's a part of the royal line??"

"Yeah," Max agreed. "Zan and Vilandra had a younger brother and two younger sisters who survived the uprising. Mardy is Zan's brother's daughter's son."

I smiled at that, and then started to wonder what they'd want to do with the royal line - assuming that we managed to beat Kivar. Max was a human hybrid, and though I hadn't even gotten the chance to ask him what he thought of marriage and dynastic considerations, I doubted he'd want to marry an Antarian. He was probably hell bent on going back for Liz, when he could.

Would they want the throne to pass through full-blooded Antarian heirs, when the time came, instead of to part humans? Well, that was something to worry about later.

"To answer the question you almost asked, Maria," Max put in, "I've pretty much been playing the meet the family game. What's up with you guys??"

"You'd better bring that little kid over and sit down, Maxwell," I told him. "It's big news."

-------

When we woke up, the second time, I checked my watch and it was after 1:30 am. Hadn't even thought to look at the time during the interval.

"Better get you home," I mumbled, feeling groggy, but still high off of this peek we had received (possibly,) into our future. "Don't you have breakfast shift at the cafe tomorrow??"

"NOW he remembers that," Maria mumbled to nobody in particular.

But we got ourselves out of the back seat and straightened up a bit, and I started nosing the car back down the hill. The extended vision sequence, both parts, had been weird, but certainly not an unpleasant look ahead. Maria and I were still together; we'd gone to my planet, where the loyalist rebels seemed very friendly and welcoming.

There were some bits that seemed confusing and mysterious though. Why exactly hadn't Isabel come along, or Liz for that matter? (Or Alex, but that was really only a question if Isabel came.) Was it actually possible that the Granilith could be used as a transportation device that could get us home? Why had we decided to go to Antar, anyway?? When, exactly, had I asked Maria to marry me? Did we really have living family over there that would accept us like that??

We drove in silence for a little while, not talking about it, and then...

"Why the heck did we stay up on Passion Peak for so long?" I blurted out, feeling a little confused. "Man, I'm so tired I feel like I might turn into a pile of rocks at any moment."

Maria looked over towards me, and her eyes seemed to be troubled. "We... you wanted to go for doubles, or something."

"*I* wanted to??" I weighed this notion over in my head. "I thought *you* wanted to go for doubles." Another beat of silence. "Why the heck would we have gone for doubles in the car, when we couldn't rest up for it?? I think it was more than either of us were up to."

"Yeah, you might be right," Maria agreed. "After two out-of-body climaxes, I feel like I could sleep for... oh, a good four days straight, at least. Too bad I have to show up for work in about FIVE hours!!"

Something was nagging at me. Out-of-body. Had there been something weird about our out-of-body experiences tonight? I couldn't seem to quite remember; maybe that was just the general exhaustion I was feeling.

"Michael!!" Maria exclaimed. "Left - turn left!!" And I stopped paying attention to anything but the road back to her house then.

-------------

(Liz):

I only had to wait in the back room for less than a minute before the parking lot door opened and Max looked in. His jaw literally dropped when he saw me.

"You... wow..." I hurried over and threw my arms up around my neck as he stood there in the doorway, and after a moment he clued in enough to kiss me, his lips so soft and tasting slightly spicy. After a few second he broke the clinch and detached me to get a better look.

"Like what you see?" I teased. First off - I'd gone to the salon today, and followed up on my threat about doing something completely different to my hair. The long straight dark tresses falling halfway down my back were gone -- and good riddance, at this point. The new 'do... well, I'd left the dark brown color alone... because it suits me and I think Max sees it as one of my best features. The tresses were now only just shoulder-length though, layered and feathery and a little wavy and I really liked the effect -- even if there was a bit of hair that was constantly falling over my left eye, which was annoying. But possibly sexy, as well... we'll have to see about that.

"Definitely," Max said, shaking me out of my self-appraisal, and bent forward to kiss me on the cheek, and then below my cheek, where 'jaw' was starting to turn into 'neck.'

"I think that's enough public displays of affection for now," I whispered. "Better get while the getting is good - before my Dad comes through and asks where the heck I think I'm going dressed like this. For one thing, I'm not sure I'd be able to give him an answer besides 'it's a surprise,' which probably wouldn't go over too well."

Max smiled and led the way out the door, towards where his Jeep was parked. But when he spoke, the tone was cajoling and faintly flirty. "Come on... I know you've figured out where I'm taking you. You have to have."

I noticed before answering that Max was looking pretty damn fine himself, in a light blue button-down shirt and white pants, also black shoes. "I know you're taking me dancing," I admitted with a smile, climbing into the passenger seat, "but not WHERE."

Max grinned to himself at that, and soon we were out on the road. "Well then, you're going to have to wait a little longer to find out," he said softly.

"This is really going to take a lot of your time this summer," I blurted out all of a sudden, once we had eaten and were back on the way to dancing. "The Brody thing, searching for this spaceship that he has a line on."

Max spared enough time for a quick glance at my face before going back to awareness of the traffic. "Yeah, I guess so," he admitted slowly, after a long pause. "Are you upset by that? Do you want me to go back and tell Brody that I've changed my mind, or that I can't put as much time into it??"

Uh-oh. On one level I wanted very much to tell him I wanted exactly that. But... Max would resent it, if I made a demand like that out of him. I was sure of that, somehow. This spaceship thing was very important to him, and speed could be critical. If they took too long figuring things out, there might be nothing left when they got there -- if the government agency currently looking after the spaceship realized that they had caught wind of it. Max could either stay out of this investigation or give it as much of his attention as it required - to go about it halfheartedly could actually put him in danger.

And it wasn't worth it for me to ask him to give it up. It was an annoyance, yeah, but a compromise that I was willing to make. "No, not really. But it means a lot to me that you offered -- if that was an offer??"

"Um, pretty much."

I nodded, feeling a knowing smile on my face. Max hadn't been quite sure what he'd do if I asked, probably would have gone along with whatever request but hadn't made his mind up for certain. Well, I was quite happy to give him the full brownie points for it. "I was actually thinking -- maybe I need a little project of my own. Aside from working at the cafe, something I can do to keep myself busy while you're otherwise occupied."

Max considered that for a few seconds. "Sounds good, actually. Any ideas on what??"

"Actually, yeah." I kept my voice down by reflex, even though there was no one in a nearby car that could hear what I was saying, and Max was pretty careful about checking through the Jeep for anything that might be some kind of eavesdropping device. "You guys... there's a lot of things that you've heard, or seen, or things you have that have a connection to... to all of the stuff that's been going on. Where you came from, who's looking for you, that kind of stuff -- and that you don't understand the significance of. Normally, as a group, we only start to pay attention to that stuff when a new crisis breaks." I waited for a response.

"I guess you're right, to a certain extent," Max agreed. "Go on?"

"I was thinking of starting to cross-reference that stuff," I said, a little awkwardly. "See if I can come to any conclusions. At the very least, index it, so that when the next crisis does break, we can use all that I've summarized to figure out what's probably relevant and what's probably less so."

Max grinned. "Sounds great. What do you need... you'll probably want to get inside the chamber for that, since it's where we keep all the artifacts. I'm going to be too busy to drive you up often... maybe Michael could. Or Tess. I'm sure either of them would be happy to, schedules permitting."

"Yeah, thanks," I agreed. "But I'll leave that stuff for later. Right now, there's a lot of material just inside my own journals... and I can talk to people about anything that I didn't experience directly, right??"

"Sure. Ooh." Max signaled me silent, as a convertible drove up alongside us, full of junior college students talking excitedly amongst themselves and calling out 'what?' when they couldn't hear each other, and I let the subject drop then. Soon enough we were at Close Encounters, a nightclub that had been set up in a small ranchhouse just outside the town limits of Roswell... supposedly they didn't have to follow city regulations out there, when it came to noise limits, alcohol, closing time and what have you. (Personally this story never made sense to me - if they don't have to follow Roswell city regulations they'd have to follow Chavez county regulations, and I can't see that the county would be any more generous.) The college kids in the roadster had been heading to the club too.

Max drew the Jeep into a space on the far side of the mid-sized parking lot and came around to open my door, which I'm glad I realized a few seconds before I opened it myself. The club wasn't too busy - it wasn't yet quarter to eight in the evening by this point. The vibes coming from inside, on the other hand, were as energetic as could be asked for, and I was psyched as I pulled Max through the front door, (where he stopped long enough to pay the cover charge for both of us,) and out into the large L-shaped room that served as the main dance floor. He grinned and drew me close to him.

The edge of the room was rimmed with simple brown wooden chairs, tiny little white tables with square tops, and black sound equipment. It was all clearly arranged so as to not cut down on the dancing room any more than necessary, but the chairs were cool because they could be turned either to watch the dancing or to face someone in another chair (if that person had turned his or her chair to face you, of course.)

It's a popular party destination with the high school crowd in town, maybe because they don't card at the door - just at the bar, if you ask for something hard. I think if you get tired with having to show your ID over and over again, they put a plastic strip around your wrist... after examining your photo and face very carefully. Not sure how that works (for obvious reasons.) I think a few kids right out of university who'd seen the first few episodes of 'Buffy the vampire slayer' and decided that Roswell needed a place kind of like "the Bronze" opened the place.

We danced for four songs at first... two fast, then a slow, then another fast. They were long mixes, and so both of us were feeling pretty tired when we dropped out and headed towards the refreshments counter, which was in an adjoining room, slightly less noisy and vaguely brighter. Another thing that was pretty good about this place was that they'd come up with an interesting collection of nonalcoholic drinks, so you didn't have to just pick between a coke and a sprite if you were underage. I had a rose de mai, which is a virgin cocktail with pineapple and raspberry syrup and cream, that I really like, and Max had a 'brown pelican'. We grabbed two empty chairs on the edge of the dance floor and watched people while we drank and talked.

"It's weird, Isabel being out of town," Max called, not too loudly, just enough to be heard over the music. (Unfortunately, the only seats we could find were not too far from a speaker - which was true generally in this room.) "I keep waiting for her to come home or expecting her to be hanging in her room."

"Yeah, I can imagine," I agreed. "Have you heard from her since she left??"

"One email, last night. She'll call in a few days - not before. Wants to emphasize her independence a little, I'm sure."

I sat there a bit, thinking about Alex and Isabel, off in a faraway city... well, far enough away when you think about it. Were they together right now? And if so... what were they doing?? The possibilities that jumped to my mind were intriguing, and I dropped my free hand to Max's leg, just above the knee. Those white pants were pretty tight, and a little on the thin side... I caressed his flesh through them, and then squeezed, teasingly.

Max smiled at me. "And just exactly what are you trying to start, Miss Elizabeth Parker??"

"Me, start something??" I tried to give him my best innocent look as I moved my hand further along his thigh... a hard combination to make work, and I'm not sure I did exceptionally well at it. "Whatever gave you that idea? Is there some rule that a girl can't happen to touch her boyfriend on the leg without 'starting something'??"

"Well, no, but..." Max shook his head, as if he was having trouble thinking of the end to that thought... which didn't surprise me too much actually. He raised the plastic cup to his lips, tipped it high, and then set it down on the other side of his chair, with just a few ice cubes rattling in it. "Finish your drink," he told me.

I grinned and drained the last of the 'rose', stood up, and reached across to put the glass next to Max's... making sure to brush the front of his shirt with the back of my hand and press one leg up against the curve of his hip as I did so. He waited until my fingers had left the narrow beverage tumbler, and then sprang to his feet, knocking me off my balance and catching my upper torso in his arms, all in one fluid gesture. And then he led me back out onto the floor.

------------

"I have a pretty good notion that I'll be dreaming about you tonight," I told Max on the way home. Think maybe you can return the favor??"

"Ohh, if there's any way possible to choose my own dreams, I think so," he agreed. We both feel quiet at that point, and I realized that already we were close to my place.

He pulled into the cafe's parking lot, and I gestured that he shouldn't bother with the routine of opening my door, or even getting out himself. I hurried around the chassis of the vehicle myself, instead, and leaned in through his car window to kiss him goodnight - a perfectly sweet kiss, and there wasn't anything I could think of that would be a better way to end this magical evening we had had together.

Except for one last little detail. Thinking so much about Future Max and his crazy visit had reminded me that there was a little unfinished business between Max and I, and right now seemed the right moment to get one particular revelation out in front of him. "I never made love to Kyle," I whispered as the kiss broke, still hanging my head and shoulders through the window. "He played along with me, creating that scene for your benefit. Please don't ask me why I was possessed to do something like that, I can't tell you - not yet. But I wanted to let you know that you were right, all those long weeks when you refused to believe it."

Max shook his head slowly. "Elizabeth Sara Parker, you are something else."

"Better believe it!!" I reached across to take my scarf back, pressed two fingers first to my lips, then his, and grinned as I ran off and up the fire escape to the 'back door' to our apartment. Mom was sitting in her den, probably working on a sketch or something. I didn't know where my dad was; maybe he'd gone to bed already. I didn't know, and tried to make as little noise as possible as I headed into my room.

----------

(Isabel):

"Hey, princess?" It was an unfamiliar voice, and at first I didn't even think of the possibility that whoever was talking to me? "Princess? Hello??"

At that point I turned around, in annoyed frustration to find out who the caller wanted to talk to more than anything, but the nod he made as soon as he was within my line of sight made it clear that that was I. "What the hell do you mean by that??" I shot back.

The guy, a short young man with dark hair and a cheerful face, blinked in surprise. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you or anything. You seemed so serious and -- detached during class."

I shook my head, trying to clear away the hostile reaction that had come because he used the word 'princess.' "I'm the one who should apologize -- I totally took your head off there, didn't I?? I really shouldn't have, it's j... well, there's a long story that I don't want to get into." Deep breath. "So, which class?"

He took a second to clue into what I meant by that ambiguous question. "Western philosophy... I think we're going to be in the same tutorial group on Monday... I'm Rick, by the way."

"Right, duh." I sighed. "*Now* I remember your face, really I do." At the philosophy lecture yesterday, the various tutorial groups of fourteen or so had met quickly once the professor was done, but I had been focusing on getting back to the dorm and calling Alex, so hadn't paid much attention. "Isabel."

"Nice to meet you," he said politely. "You live here at Rhodes?"

I shook my head. "Boyfriend. You?"

"Guy friend told me about the party here, and I took the tunnels."

There was a quiet, slightly itchy moment. "I don't mean to be rude, but..." I started uncertainly.

"Oh, hey, by all means," Rick said, gesturing outwards. "I'll see you Monday?"

"Well, yeah," I agreed, smiled, and headed off in the direction that Alex had gone. It occurred to me that while Rick hadn't used a cheap come-on line or anything like that, he hadn't seemed to show much interest in continuing the conversation after finding out that I had a boyfriend. Hmm, it was hard to tell one way or the other.

When I found Alex, he had just stepped out of the bathroom, and he smoothed back an errant strand of hair as he noticed me. "Hey... you look a little bored. Want to book it?"

"Naw, more mingling is fine," I assured him. "Just, I want to do it with you. 'Kay??"

"No arguments here," he laughed. "How about some munchies??"

"Sounds great." So we went down the hall to a residence lounge where some people had set up a big punch bowl of weak-tasting sugar free cool-ade. Instant lasagnes had been heated up in the microwave, and bags of potato chips and other snack treats had been opened. I had to wonder whether this was a co-operative effort on the part of the students participating, or if maybe the supplies that had been bought for some other function had been raided... but I have to admit I didn't really worry about it very much at the moment.

There were even more goodies in the small kitchen adjoining the lounge, actually. I grabbed a can of no-name pop, moved two warm enchiladas over to a paper plate, and met up with Alex at a small loveseat. "Hey."

He smiled at me, put down a forkful of cheesy lasagne, and called out "Hi there!!" and gave a bit of a wave as I sat down. I looked at him quizzically, since I didn't really need that much volume or the gesture, and he pointed past me. I looked, and realized that he'd been saying hi to another couple that had just wandered in, looking a little aimless and confused.

"Do you know them??" I asked Alex in a soft voice, one notch or so above a whisper.

"No, just being friendly. They seemed nice... and a little lonely. I can relate." He laughed silently.

I looked back again. They seemed to be about our age, at least compared to the seniors or grad students. The guy was kind of... distinguished looking, which seems an odd word for a young guy, especially one with a shaved head only just growing out with hair no more than a tiny fraction of an inch yet, but the term suited him... his face had a lot of character and strength, though I wouldn't call him classically 'handsome.' The girl was a little on the short side, but pretty, and her blue eyes were set off dramatically by her jaw-length dark hair, with bright artificial blonde highlights. I waved too, and they headed somewhat timidly over.

There was a pause as they came near, and the two of them shared an uncertain look before the boy spoke up. "Hi... should I remember you? Either of you??"

Both Alex and I laughed at the same time, and the girl joined in a little tentatively. "No, I don't think so," I said. "You guys just looked like you could use a friendly face, or something like that. Umm..."

"Well, thanks," he said, pulling up a chair and sitting down, while the girl took an armchair that was in the area. "Neil. You guys aren't by any chance new here too??"

Alex stifled another chuckle. "Yeah, actually... Isabel got here -- what, day before yesterday, and I've been on campus for all of a week. I'm Alex -- nice to meet you man."

Neil acknowledged Alex and half-bowed politely to me, and then turned to his girlfriend (I was assuming,) to see if she wanted to introduce herself. "I'm Cara... nice to meet both of you."

"I just got here on Monday myself," Neil explained, "and though Cara's been here for a term, she's feeling a little bummed that the friends she made are all gone for summer."

"Oh, so you started in January?" Alex asked Cara, and she nodded. "Picked a major yet??"

"Actually, kinda yes... it's inorganic chemistry, at least I think so."

"Hmmm," I went, and everybody kind of turned to look at me. "Okay, I'm not quite sure how to beat around the bush with this, so I'll just ask it, and apologize later if I'm off-base. How long have the two of you been together??"

Neil and Cara shared a knowing, spooked glance, and Cara giggled. "You're not off-base, really, but it's a kinda funny story..."

"Okay, then you *have* to explain more," Alex put in. "I live for kinda funny stories!"

She blushed a little and reached out to grab Neil's hand in hers. "I'm from Santa Fe, and Neil is from Akela, a... a 'roadside souvenir stand,' to use his own term, about 45 minutes west of Las Cruces. We met, what, about a year and a half ago??"

"Yeah, December of Ninety-nine," Neil agreed. "At a Save Ferris concert in Albuquerque."

"It was one of those incredibly amazing nights," Cara put in, her eyes shining a little at the memory. "We danced in the aisles together, and went to a party that I knew about after the show. It was, what, almost three AM when we actually figured out just how far away we lived, and I had to be back home well before dawn."

Alex and I were hanging on every word by now... I knew that he had to be as aware as I was of some of the similarities with our own history. December of '99 was about when we showed up on each other's radar, though it took longer before I let him past my defences, of course. And 'Save Ferris'... did he remember that amazing dream that I walked into??

"So what happened?" Alex asked.

"I kissed him goodbye and gave him a glass slipper," Cara giggled.

"Really?" I asked, confused.

"More like glass and a slipper," Neil clarified. "Specifically, a costume jewellery pendant and one red low-heeled shoe. This one's got a bit of a 'Cinderella' complex..." he shot a fond glance at Cara, "but it was cute at the time, and made for a good story afterward, I have to admit. Myself, I like to think I did better than the storybook Prince Charming, in that I made sure Cara had my digits before she pulled her disappearing act."

"Wow," Alex whispered. "What happened next??"

"About what you'd expect," Cara said with a soft laugh. "I called him, the next night, we traded addresses and emails; I gave him *my* number. And we arranged to meet again over the Christmas holidays that winter, this time in Socorro, so that he could give me my stuff back. That kind of set the tone for things... "

"Hey, I think it's your turn to be on the hot seat by now," Neil interrupted suddenly. "How long have the two of you been a couple?"

Now, apparently, it was Alex's and my turn to share a long look and take turns explaining that it was a long and slightly confusing story. (So we did.) "Well, let's see," Alex said after a moment's thought. "It would have been late winter in 2000, maybe February, when I started to make my move the first time. We actually dated for a brief period in early May, but things got really confusing and she broke up with me. It's been about a month since we really got our act together, now."

"Really, only a month?" Cara said. "And you guys went to the same school and everything??"

"Yeah, we're from Roswell by the way," I told her. "I guess when you get used to the thought that someone will be there waiting for you whenever you're ready, it becomes easy to take that for granted."

"But still... Alex seems like a great guy," Cara pressed. "I mean, I don't really know him -- but anyway: Why did you wait so long before letting him catch you??"

I thought about that for a second. "I guess, deep down, I kinda thought that I was a complete mess and that a great guy like him deserved better..."

------------

(Max):

I hit the key combination that told the computer to hibernate, stood up, took the cell phone out of my pocket, and hit speed dial 1.

Two rings. "Hello?" It was Liz's voice, of course.

"How bad is it out there, right now?? The rain."

"Umm..." Liz softly giggled over the line. "I'm not sure... I ran up into the apartment for a moment, and I'm in the living room. Hang on." There was a pause, and I started down the office stairs towards the third display area, as Liz presumably made her way to a window. "Yeah, it's still coming down pretty hard and regularly. Not quite as impressive as it was earlier this afternoon, but still very emphatically wet. Why do you ask?" There was a bit of quiet amusement hidden in her voice.

"Because I can't take it any more," I informed her seriously. "I *need* to see you as soon as possible, and so I'm contemplating dashing across the street."

"For li'l old me, seriously??" Liz hummed quietly for a second. "As much as I'm flattered by the sentiment, and would love to see you too, are you sure ya just want to charge blindly into the fury of the storm, consequences be damned?? The radio says that the last of the cold front should pass over us in an hour or two, and things will be much less vigorous then."

"I can't help myself," I told her. "Been cooped up in Brody's office all day again, staring at his research and thinking of you. Can't wait even an hour." I paused. "Unless 'storm' was actually descriptive rather than hyperbole. Are we talking thunder/lighting/gale force winds, or just a downpour of rain?"

"Okay, I was taking poetic licence," Liz admitted. "Haven't noticed any thunder or strong wind, not that I've been looking or listening outside the whole day." She paused a moment, and somehow from the sound of her footsteps over the line I guessed that she was coming down the stairs to the cafe level. "So are you really coming??"

"Umm, yeah," I said, pausing near the entrance area to look around. "Just..."

"There an umbrella or something you can use??"

"I don't think so. I took a light jacket when I drove in this morning, but..." I took it out of the little coatroom and started to put it on.

"Not gonna be enough, I think..."

"I'm not made out of sugar," I said. "I'll survive. See you in a minute." And I hung up the phone, tucked it into my shirt pocket under the jacket, and jogged up the stairs and out into the rain.

The first surge falling down onto me was nearly enough to knock me off balance. I charged out into the street, feeling the water surrounding my shoes and seeping inside with every step, checked to make sure there were no cars on the road and forged on through as the water continued to drum down onto everything in sight, which unfortunately included me. It seemed a moment and half an hour later when I finally threw the front door of the cafe open and staggered into the relative shelter.

Liz was right there next to the door waiting for me. "Oh, my god," she muttered, throwing a large clean dishtowel at me. "That was... possibly the stupidest thing I've ever seen." But she was smiling.

"Hey, what can I say?? I'm in love," I declared, and leaned in to kiss her.

"Eww, sheesh!!" she shrieked in delight after a few seconds. "Come on, Max, you're dripping all OVER me!! Dry off first."

"As you wish."

Once I was upstairs and we were in private, it was easy enough to drive the excess water molecules away from my hair, skin, and clothes. Liz had gone to get some of her Dad's old clothes, (forgetting, I guess, how useful my powers could be in this situation,) and stared at me as she came back into her room. "Guess we won't be needing these, huh?"

"I suppose not," I admitted. "So, how's your day been so far?"

She came over and sat down. "Not bad, though it's always a bit weird when the rain hits so suddenly in a desert town like Roswell. I... I think I had a dream of you this morning, Max." She blurted that sentence out all at once. "Or, or maybe it was just a trick of the... of the lightning, I suppose."

"Really? What was I doing?"

"Just standing over there. It was only a moment." She waved over to the windows, and I decided not to press her for any more details. "Also in the weirdness category, Tess is working here now! She didn't mention anything about that to you, did she?"

"Umm... no. You mean, downstairs?" I hadn't seen her when I dripped through, but that didn't exactly mean anything. "Waiting tables."

"Yup." Liz nodded. "I've been giving her a kinduv-hard time about 'training' her today, but not maliciously, just teasing, right?" I nodded back. "Sounds like I'm not the only one who wanted to find something to keep me occupied for the summer - as well as talking my Dad into hiring her, she's signed up for this low-budget movie thing. Do you know Jonas Wilson and Martin Bryce?"

"Oh, yeah, vaguely, and I'd heard that they were shooting a fantasy movie epic this summer. Tess has been cast?"

Liz snickered. "I can see how you'd think of her as the star of the show, but nope. She signed on as costume designer... but she recruited Kyle to play the bad guy and asked me if I could audition for the mysterious magic chick."

"Hmm." I thought about that. "What do you think?"

"Well, it might be fun, but I'm not sure." Liz shrugged awkwardly. "You sure you wouldn't mind, me dressing up in some crazy outfit and being caught on film for posterity?"

"Mind?" I had to laugh. "Heck, it's kinduv a turn-on."

"Really? Hmm." Liz pondered that for a moment, shot me a flirtatious glance, and sighed. "I just wish I knew what got Tess started with this. Those guys aren't exactly her usual scene."

"I don't know," I admitted. "But I'm not too worried."

TO BE CONTINUED!!


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

(Michael):

"Hey, bud, sorry I'm late," Steve Vilchez said after poking his head into the kitchen and beginning to change into an apron and hairnet. "How are things??"

"Not too bad," I said, taking a quick look at the clock - my shift had ended a little more than five minutes ago, which to me sounded like it was a perfect time to ask for a favor. Almost. "Been a lot of orders for the grill so far tonight - got more than a dozen different burgers cooking away here. The deep fat seems to be a little on the gritty side."

"I'll get it set up to strain before I leave tonight," he volunteered, picking up a spatula and peering critically at the burgers I mentioned. "Extra careful. There anything else??"

"Yeah, actually... I was hoping to be able to trade off days with you," I blurted out.

"What, tomorrow for Tuesday?? Thought you and Maria were going down to Stanley Hill for a fun day together... she was really looking forward to it."

"That's actually kind of why I need to change my plans," I admitted. "She got invited down to Las Cruces to see a good friend on Saturday... tomorrow I mean. Well, tomorrow is Saturday. Anyway, so hopeful she's going to go off and do that on Saturday, and we'll fit Stanley Hill in on Tuesday."

Steve considered this for a moment. "Well, okay man, sure. It's fine by me... good trade actually. Make sure you get here nice and early tomorrow, though, 'cause I pulled the six am shift."

"I remember," I told him with a sigh, and gestured for him to take my place in the kitchen. "Thanks again."

"Not a problem at all."

I went into the bathroom, cleaned the worst of the grease off myself and took off my own apron and the other little aspects of the uniform. Came back out of the bathroom, went over to open my locker, and was immediately struck by something, though I wasn't sure what.

The locker wasn't the way I had left it. Not obviously disordered, (it would be hard to be less tidy than the way I usually have it,) but disorganized in a definitely different way. I hadn't been into the locker when I got in this morning, or all day for that matter, but it hadn't been quite like this yesterday when I left with Maria. That was weird.

I grabbed a book and shut the locker. Could it have been Maria?? I would probably have noticed if she'd been around the lockers, and she came in a lot later than I did today. Plus, she knows I get a little touchy about this kind of stuff and, since she didn't seem to have any reason to intentionally piss me off lately, (at least not that I'd seen,) she would have asked first. Right??

I went out into the dining room with a bit of a frown on my face. Maria was heading back from a table, not in any great hurry, so I nabbed her for a kiss and a quiet moment together away from the customers. "Steve said alright to the switch, so you're okay for going up to Las Cruces tomorrow. Should I send Alex a quick email on your behalf when I get home?"

"Umm, yeah sure," she said, and kissed me back, a little harder. "That'd be great, thanks."

"Okay, and car keys?? I'll come back and get you, ten o'clock"

"What about the bike??"

I shrugged. "Don't feel like taking it now, it can stay here for a few days as far as that goes. Don't think anyone's going to steal it. How's your day been, by the way??"

"Pretty good, except that my feet hurt already." Carefully made the appropriate sympathy face to this revelation.

I thought about asking her about my locker, but decided not to. If it had been Maria, she'd have said something by now, I was sure of it. And I didn't want her to get worried or anything, because I had to admit I was a little worried myself. If someone else had searched through my locker last night... what would they have been looking for?

Maria tossed me the keys to that dinosaur of a car I now have, and I kissed her goodbye and headed out. First I had to go back to my place and send the email to Alex. And then... I needed to find someplace where I could really get some good thinking done.

-------------

(Michael):

I drove the old car into the wide driveway, joining Max's jeep and Valenti's old minivan. The woodworking bridegroom happened to be walking our way at that moment, just coming around a corner of the house and carrying a long metal ladder, so I stood up out of the car quickly and waved a hand. "Hey, reporting for handyperson duty!! Where do you want us??"

Jim waved back with his left hand, paused to get the ladder set up against the wall, and hurried over. "Well, there's plenty to do with this old place," he said with a wide smile. We were at Ed and Tess' old place, if that wasn't clear. "Max and Liz are getting the dining room ready for painting, and Tess and Kyle are wandering around the place, cleaning and tidying. As far as other things... there's floors to be swept and washed, and the back door looks like it's seen better days."

"Well, we can get started with that I guess," Maria said, coming around the back of the car and putting her arm around me. "Sweeping and washing, I at least have a lot of practice with."

"Yeah, I can take a look at the door," I agreed. "Do you think it can be repaired, or will someone have to try to make a new one??"

"I'm a little on the fence about that very question, actually," Valenti admitted, leading the way towards the back of the house.

Now, in case you haven't been following along closely, Mister Valenti had managed to co-opt, (i.e. guilt-trip) all of us into giving up our days off, (well, except for Kyle, who is kind of between jobs at this point in the summer and thus doesn't really have days off in the strict sense...) helping him get Tess' old house ready to show to Maria's mom, with the idea that at some point both families will move in, and Jim and Amy will hopefully put their old houses on the market to help swing the mortgage on the Harding place, since the money that Nasedo left for Tess has almost run out.

Truth be told, I don't really mind that much about pitching in... honestly, it's the least that we owe Jim Valenti for all the crap that we've put him through over the past year or so, (including that trip to Vegas, which - yeah - was fun, but probably not the brightest idea I've ever had.)

"Ooh." I sucked in my breath as the back door came into view. Whittaker must have done this, when she broke into the house, looking for some clue to the Granilith's hiding place maybe? It was broken into two different pieces, each of them now swinging independently, and one of them almost hanging off of its hinge.

"Yeah," Valenti agreed. "Normal techniques won't be much good on this, if that's all we can use, then it'd be better to just start from scratch." He dropped his voice. "On the other hand, maybe more unique talents might avail, if we can get the pieces taken off and brought downstairs."

I thought about that. "Well, I'm not sure, but it might be worth a try, yeah."

"Okay."

"I'm going to go inside and start sweeping, 'kay??" Maria confirmed. I opened the doors up for her and stole a kiss while she was en route.

Jim was smiling broadly as I turned back to him, and for a second it seemed a little weird. Mother and daughter... one of us was madly in love with each of them. Maybe eventually that would be the foundation for some kind of bond between the two of us, but at the moment it seemed hard to even define that relationship. Was he a father figure or a friend??

"So, do you want to hold steady or work with the screwdriver??" Jim asked, gesturing to the door hinges. Well, I guess that was a place to start.

"I'll do the heavy lifting, let you take the clever finger work," I said, smiling.

------------

(Maria):

"Are you sure that it's stable?" Michael asked for the second time.

"I tell you, it's like a rock," I replied. "Come on, I feel like you're coddling me just a little. I'm a big girl and I'll be fine." I climbed up one stair and half turned, bouncing up and down a little as if to demonstrate.

"You don't have to show off," he warned me.

"And you don't have to still be here," I shot back. "The others need your help, come on."

There was a lot of painting going on in the house at this point, and the smell of it was disagreeing with me for some reason, so Jim had suggested that I come out, get some fresh air, and struggle against the ivy that was clinging with incredible stubbornness to the south side of the house. Michael had come out to help me get the ladder set up, which I appreciated, but now his solicitousness was starting to bug me just a little.

"Um, okay," he said, his face falling a little and blowing up a kiss. "See you a little bit later."

He turned to head in, and I started to feel a little guilty. Calling "I love you, sweetie" after him helped a little. Getting into the job made me start to forget the rest of it.

It was weird. I thought that Michael and I were rock solid at this point, but apparently misunderstandings and little foolish prides and the rest of the relationship badness could strike at any moment. Well, I'd apologize in a little more detail later, and that should smooth things over I think.

Another thing that was weird was the thought of leaving the house that I'd grown up and moving into this place with Kyle and Tess and Mister Valenti. I wonder if Mister Valenti's going to want to tell my mom about Michael and the others being alien. It kind of sounds like the sort of thing he'd support... all of those old-fashioned family values he keeps talking about. Not wanting to keep a huge secret from your wife really sounds like it would fit in as one of those values.

Liz told me a few days ago about this movie thing that she's acting in now. I have to admit, I don't really see why she's adding yet another project to her plate, especially something that Tess asked her to. I suspect that part of it is that Max isn't paying enough attention to her... he's off chasing flying saucers and so Liz is looking for validation from the camera, instead of him. That's just a wild guess though.

I finished ripping away and cutting apart all of the ivy within reach of the ladder where it was, so after a second I climbed down, moved it with only a little difficulty four and a half feet to the left, and started to climb up again.

I must have done something wrong. It seemed steady at first, but when I was about two-thirds of the way up, there was a weird bumping and a click, and the ladder started to slowly tip away from the wall. I shrieked and tried to hang on, but there was no way. I remember thinking 'uh-oh, this is not good' while flying through the air, with my eyes closed.

Then... well, there was a sudden sense of collision, a faint cracking sound, and an awful lot of pain. It hurt even to think, but I realized dimly that the worst of the agony was near my left hand, and from that and the cracking noise, it wasn't too much of a leap to guess that the forearm might be broken. "Hello?" I croaked, trying to get as much volume as I could. There had been an open window nearby, I remember noticing it. Was anyone inside the house near enough to hear me. "Help, Michael, I'm hurt!!"

I think I might have passed out for a moment there; certainly I don't remember the next bit really. A vague sensation of being carried maybe, and feeling so disoriented that my stomach rebelled and rejected breakfast. Half conscious, I did notice being laid down on a couch, a cool cloth cleaning off my face, and then I deliberately opened my eyes. Somebody's hands were moving underneath my hair, carefully examining every section of my scalp, I realized. One section of my head complained and I moaned loudly. "What... what are you doing that for??"

"Well, you took a bit of a knock there," Mister Valenti told me softly, moving away from the area that complained as if he could tell it by the feel... (maybe he could,) "but there's no lump or any sign of a concussion, which is lucky. I'd say that the worst you got is that arm, which is probably fractured in two places." He shook his head slightly and looked into my eyes. "Do you remember what happened??"

"I moved the ladder, I must have gotten it unhooked at the top of the roof by accident or something," I said in a rush. Everyone else was here in the same room watching me... Michael looked stricken. "It was fine until I was nearly to the top, and then the ladder started to tip over and everything was bad."

"So that's it?" Michael asked softly, coming near, and Jim moved aside to let him sit down near my head. "Just an accident? You didn't notice anyone around, watching from a window nearby or something like that??"

"Umm..." I was struck by the oddness of the question. "Not notice as such, but everything happened pretty quickly... why? How did you find me??"

Michael ran a hand carefully over the side of my face. "I'd left open a window to keep half an ear out... not sure why. Or maybe just to let some of the paint fumes out, not that I wished them on you sweetie. Heard a bit of a clatter and was debating whether to go and investigate or what, when you started shouting and settled the issue nicely." He sighed. "When I got out and saw you lying there... there was an odd notion, as if it hadn't been just a mistake, but that someone had wanted to hurt you. But maybe I was imagining it."

"How's the arm??" Liz asked, coming a little closer.

"It really really hurts," I complained. "Man, this is going to be such a pain, isn't it?? I'm going to have to keep it in a sling for weeks... which means I'm going to be at least half useless at the cafe..." And messing around with Michael wouldn't be nearly as much fun either. "Unless... Max, you can heal it right now, couldn't you??"

Max jumped a little at being put on the spot. "Umm, I guess I could, Maria. Are you sure that that's what you want?" He looked around. "Are we all sure? I mean, I'm not trying to be an ass about it, I'd like to help you out Maria, but there are some risks that we have to think about; this isn't something like..."

"Like Michael getting shot by a crazed Gandarium killer??" I hissed. "Or is it that I'm not one of your best buddies that's making the difference??"

"Okay, come on," Kyle said softly. "Maria, I understand that you're in a lot of pain, but Max has a point. This is an iffy situation, so we need to take a step back and go over the situation rationally."

"I'll get you some painkillers for the meantime if you want, Maria," Tess volunteered. I didn't say anything, but Jim nodded at her and Tess hurried off.

"Why don't you go on moderating, Kyle??" Liz said softly. "You seem to be the best one at the rational thought thing at the moment."

He nodded softly. "Okay, Maria has asked Max to heal her arm. I think we can all agree that if that's something he can do without bringing risk or suspicion to our little cabal, or any other substantial counter-indication, then it's a reasonable request. Agreed??" There were nods from several people, and finally even Max himself shrugged noncommittally.

"To be fair, Maria, it's not as serious an injury as Michael's, or any other time when Max has used his healing talent among the group, so the precedent does not stand unsupported." Kyle took a deep breath. "Does anybody want to bring up a consideration??" I didn't say anything, feeling furious at the parliamentary procedure while I was hurt.

"Will it leave a handprint??" Liz asked.

"It didn't when Max healed Michael," I pointed out. "Trust me, I would have seen it if it had. I think that's only when the person being healed is near death, or maybe when it's a serious disease like cancer that's being healed."

"Did anyone see you get hurt?" Max asked softly. "If they did, then they might think that it's odd when..."

"No," Michael answered. "I don't think anyone was watching when she fell, and there was no-one when we got out there and carried her in. Even if someone caught a glimpse, there's no way that someone could tell that she had broke her arm... she might have fallen that way and gotten no more than a few bruises."

Tess rushed in at this point, and offered a tall glass of cold water and a few kinda-big white pills. I shrugged them off for the moment and stared at Max. "If there aren't any objections, then I don't think I'll need them. At least, not until after he's done." It was unspoken that Max would probably leave the other bumps and scrapes from my fall untreated, but I'd decide if they were worth taking a Tylenol for once I could concentrate on them.

"Okay, if it's what you want," Max said, and Michael moved away so that Max, in turn, could squat next to me. I nodded, and he moved the light blanket aside to reveal my arm, which had been wrapped up in some old rags. I nerved myself and looked deep into his eyes.

There was a moment of discontinuity, and a brief flash of standing out in the desert with Max, Michael, and Tess. Where was that familiar from?? There was some oddly memorable shape in the background... and then it was gone. Max was in front of me again, looking down. I pulled the wrappings away from my forearm, and sure enough, it looked nearly as good as new, except for a few superficial cuts and scrapes. Compared to the raging, pulsing pain that I remembered, it was a considerable improvement.

"Thanks, Ma..." I broke off, confused. "What's wrong, Max??"

"Um, it's nothing," he mumbled.

"No, it obviously isn't," I countered. Had he... had Max seen something while he was healing me? Maybe something about Michael and I? Well, that was a wild guess, but I didn't want to be keeping any secrets from the people around me. "Did you notice something while you were connected to me, Max??"

"Well, umm, I'd really rather talk about it in private," he mumbled. "You, me, maybe Michael..."

"No." I cut that idea off with a fierce shake of my head. "No secrets, not among 'our little cabal' now. Please, whatever it is, just say it." Was I, deep down, hoping that Max would spare me the trouble of putting the new status of my relationship with Michael out in the open?

Well, he did, but not quite the way I'd expected. "Okay, Maria, if that's the way you want it!! It looks to me as if you're pregnant."

"I'm..." my throat suddenly, got dry, and I snatched at that glass of water Tess had brought, tipping it into my mouth so fast that some of it dripped onto my shirt and my throat half choked on it. "I'm... I'm what??"

"He, he said pregnant," Michael said, coming forward and sitting on the edge of the sofa next to me. "Umm... congratulations, sweetie? I'm not - not exactly sure what else to say at a moment like this."

WHHAP!! I didn't even consciously decide to slap Michael, it was just something that happened. "Ohh, ohh, I'm sorry baby, I didn't really mean to do that, it just kinda happened," I babbled, not even really caring if I was making any sense or not by this point. "But... I mean, well, how could I be? We used protection."

"Not absolutely every time," he reminded me, and I blushed so hot I thought I might well just explode. Hello, Michael... little thing called tact?? But I kinduv understood that he had other things on his mind at this point.

Max sighed. "I'm not sure that why this happened or placing the blame is really the point, though. We need to figure out... well, this is a partially alien baby, or it's going to be when it gets to be a baby. That kind of affects all of us, even if you two are the parents."

"Umm, yeah I guess." I still couldn't quite get my brain around this. Was it really possible that I could be a mother? "Umm, Max, while you were, err, healing me... did you get any notion of how old the, um, the foetus was??"

"It was still really small," Max said. "I don't know that much about early development rates even for people, but to hazard a guess... maybe nine or ten days??" That would mean that we'd conceived a few days after Albuquerque. Starting with that first time, we'd both been completely sex-crazy, taking every opportunity to indulge together - staying up all night in the hotel, his place, my room at home, even at Max's while he'd left us alone to take a phone call from Brody. Not to mention that crazy night up on passion peak. And... and it had been a week and a day ago when both of our sex drives has started to reduce to a manageable level... the day of the big rainstorm. After the procreation instinct, if that was what it was, had accomplished its goal, after I was carrying Michael's child. Ever since then, we'd been starting to 'nest', emotionally... Michael being really sweet and trying to take care of me, and me... falling deeper in love with him as I got ready to bear the baby to term, whatever that would entail.

"Is the baby okay, Max?" Michael asked. "I mean, from the fall."

Max shrugged. "Yeah, I think so. At least, nothing seemed to be wrong, though I'm not quite sure how I would tell."

"Oh, boy," I muttered to myself. "Okay, umm... what happens now??"

"Well, on a practical note, we kind of need to let Alex and Isabel know," Liz said softly, "but not over the phone, I think. Nobody may be 'listening', but it still seems like the kind of information that shouldn't be passing over long distance wires if there's any way around it. I'm not sure if they can come back, but..."

"Tell her to come for a visit in her dreams," Tess suggested. "That's secure enough."

"Okay," Michael said a little vaguely. "Umm... how are you feeling, babe??" He reached out towards a bit of hair that had fallen into my face, and then froze in mid-gesture, looking very uncertain and embarrassed. I nodded, as if giving him approval to brush it out of the way, and he did. It's weird how even the sweetest and littlest thing changes at a moment like this, I remember thinking.

"Physically, I'm fine, now that the arm is better," I assured him. "Remember, if I'm only ten days along, the baby has gotta be, what, about the size of a pinhead or something? If it hadn't been for Max, I wouldn't even have guessed for days yet. I'm not suddenly made of porcelain now that we know I've been eating for two, spaceboy. I won't break." There was a slightly awkward silence there... (you might even call it a pregnant pause. Groan.) "On the other hand, I think the paint fumes are starting to bug me again."

"I don't want you working outside alone again," Michael insisted.

"Fine, then I'll head upstairs and start tidying up the master bedroom and the office," I shot back. "Wanna come with me?"

"I insist," he assured me, and with that he stood above me and offered a hand.

"Umm, well... I guess that means we go back to the painting," Max pointed out. "We've only got about half of today left, we'd better make it count."

"Well, except for Kyle," Tess said mischievously. "He's got no job... when he isn't on a rehearsal for the movie he has nothing else to do with his time... all summer..."

"Hey!!" Kyle protested. "Who was supporting this household for months on end sweating his ass off in a greasy body shop, draining septic tanks and what not?"

"Yeah, but what have you done for us lately??" she shot right back. "Break's over, Buddha-boy. You didn't want to get another job... I somehow predict you're going to be spending many a day working on this old house. Without getting paid."

"In all fairness, the house is practically brand and spanking new," Liz noted. "Appearances to the contrary."

"Well, this new house doesn't have quite the same ring to it..."

After spending a few hours trying to sort through the wreckage of Nasedo's stuff after Whittaker had been quite through with it, Michael and I got back to the subject. "Are you sure you're okay with... with this??" I whispered, gesturing lamely in the vicinity of my belly button. "I mean, seventeen year olds having a baby, it's practically the definitive after-school special. And we're talking about..."

Michael hushed me as he scooted over, and kissed me warm and soft. "I'm still a little bit in shock, I admit that," he said. "But I love you, and I promised to cherish you and take care of you when we started this." He smiled and, a little foolishly, kissed the tip of my nose, which made me dissolve into laughter. Maybe that was the point. "Our baby is going to be beautiful and passionate and a little bit nuts, and I can't wait to meet him or her."

I smiled at that. "Do you realize, neither of us said anything about... about not having the baby, or not raising it ourselves??"

"Umm, yeah I do, though it's not quite like we've discussed anything much in detail." He took a deep breath. "Do you.. I mean, are you thinking about..."

"No," I admitted. "As crazy as it sounds to take care of a baby ourselves... heck, neither of us are that good at taking care of our selves all by ourselves yet. But I can't abide the thought of... of doing something to 'take care of it', and, well, considering that Max and Isabel were adopted and you grew up an orphan, I don't think that I could bear to give this child to a stranger. Not to mention that those poor people wouldn't know what they'd be in for."

He laughed. "I wonder if it has something to do with the mating urge again. If this is how my Antarian DNA has conditioned me to react, and it's spreading to you because of the way we're connected. Now that we know we're bringing a new life into the world, we have to feel protective of it until he or she is able to go out into the world alone."

"I dunno, humans kinduv have that one too, when everything works right," I pointed out. "Though maybe it doesn't tend to kick in anything like this early."

"Well, after a little bit more of this, why don't we take off and go out for dinner," he suggested. "Somewhere nice. We really do have something to celebrate, after all."

"Sound nice," I admitted. "D'you have money??"

"Actually, yes," he replied with a laugh. "Should be more than enough." He sighed. "And frankly, at this point, I think we need to do anything we can to distract ourselves from the fact that we're going to have to tell your Mom sooner or later."

"Oh, god," I breathed.

------------

(Alex):

Max sent Isabel a slightly cryptic email, including the following: 'Michael and Maria have big news. You should walk over for a chat.' We went back and forth discussing it a bit, but obviously since she couldn't be expected to walk back from Las Cruces, it was a cue for her to use her dream-walking powers. Isabel insisted that if the news was big, she wanted to try to use her powers on me to take me along, though that wasn't something that she'd really tried before - or attempted to get so many of her friends into one dream conference before. Somewhat ill at ease about the whole thing, I had to face the fact that I couldn't dissuade Isabel Evans once she had decided on her course, and so she stayed over that night at my room.

We lay there and talked on and off nearly until one AM, mostly about stuff that really isn't terribly important. Isabel had counted off a few people going to sleep or similar changes in their status, watching the photo of all eight of us at the prom to focus on them with, but had seemed content to keep waiting. Suddenly she blurted out, "We're losing Maria."

I thought about that for only an instant. "Wait, who do we have? Already in dream state??"

"Maria, Max, Michael, and Liz."

"Then who were we waiting for?"

"Umm... Tess to come back in?" Isabel said tentatively. "Never mind. We're going in, 'kay??"

"Fine by me," I assured her quickly, and rolled over on the bed. Quickly Isabel nestled up behind me, and handed me the picture. I held it for her as she reached out and touched the faces of the four of them, holding me close, and then... everything changed.

Isabel's never been able to describe much to me about what it's like for her to dream walk, so I'm not sure if my own experiences fit. (Of course, this was a multi-dream walk too, something entirely new even apart from my own inclusion.)

I distinctly remember a brief, rippling sensation, like I was flying into the photograph as two hundred miles per hour. (That might have been just my overactive imagination... maybe.) And then, for a long, quite frightening period of time that was impossible to measure, my mind was hanging in darkness, unaccompanied by anything that could conceivably be mistaken for a body. It was like an entire universe composed only of the darkness and my thoughts, which were quite unpleasant company at that point in time, as you can maybe imagine. I was screaming and ranting silently into the night, wondering what would become of my soul if something had gone permanently wrong, and I was marooned wherever this was forever, when a familiar presence somehow floated near, calming me immediately. After that, it seemed like only a few seconds until....

BAM! Out of the darkness, suddenly, came light. A standard issue floodlight apparently, white with just a tinge of blueness to it, from at least twenty-five feet up, maybe thirty. As I wondered to myself 'up relative to what?' it became clear that a few points of reference had appeared at the same time as the light - a floor, to start with, polished grey slate or something like that, a body for me standing on the floor, and some of my friends too. Had all of these things been created by the light, or by whatever had created the light??

"Okay, that was weird," Maria said, looking around her with plenty of confusion to go around. "What the heck is happening, has happened, or will happen -- oh. Princess Evans, I presume. This is your doing??"

"Err, yeah," Isabel agreed, waving a hand and instantly conjuring walls, furniture, and less harsh lights around the six of us. "Sorry, I was trying to experiment with how far I could push the dream walking thing. Mucho apologias if the results were uncomfortable or disturbing for any of you."

"Is no big," Maria admitted, sitting down on a big sofa that had room for at least one person to take his place beside her. "Just a little startling... I had been swimming down in the Bahaman corals, breathing water, and then things were going kinda fuzzy, and WHAM I was here."

"I think you were starting to wake up when I dream-walked you," Isabel explained. "Must have felt like you were waking up here instead of in bed... I'm not surprised that it seemed strange. Again, sorry."

"Well, I didn't quite expect you to do things like this, Isabel, but it's nice to have the old gang back together for a bit, I admit," Max said. He and Liz had already taken their place in the comfiest loveseat, and I quickly looked around for a place that Isabel and I could go. There was a paisley chesterfield against one wall for some reason, and it looked better than nothing. Michael quickly hurried over to take his place next to Maria, and Isabel frowned at all of the single chairs and whiffed them into nothingness, since it was quite clear that nobody wanted them. Then she sat down too, next to me.

"So, umm, mind if I ask what the big news is that couldn't be said over the phone or any of the other long-distance communication media we have at our disposal, here in the twenty-first century?" Isabel joked.

There was a moment of strained silence, and then Michael blurted it out. "Maria's pregnant."

I blinked in surprise, trying to absorb those two words in such close proximity. "Oh, nice going bonehead," Isabel shot back with a shortness that startled me quite a bit. (But hey, I guess we all have our ways of dealing with sudden shocks.) "Sorry, that wasn't exactly called for," she admitted a second and a half later. But, umm, well, didn't you use pro--"

"We did, or at least tried," Maria said. "The theory going around is that you guys have an instinctive mating drive that kicks in once sex begins, that among other things, tries to subconsciously work around birth control devices. It spread enough to affect me too, because I was with Michael. Between the big horny and the little voice in the back of our heads telling us not to worry about it, we probably forgot the condoms a few times. Word to the wise."

"I'm suddenly very glad you didn't want to move our relationship to the next level yet, Alex," Isabel muttered. I'm not sure I deserved all the credit, since she hadn't been pushing to 'deflower' me that hard at all, but decided not to get into it at the moment.

"Umm, how are you dealing, Maria??" I asked softly. "Feels like a stupid question to be asking, but..."

"Surprisingly, I feel pretty good about it," she replied. "Not sure if that's alien instinct still, or plain old human hope and hormones, but... it'll be alright. I know that getting a bun in the oven before senior year starts is not generally accepted as a good idea, but -- since when have the normal rules applied to this group, you know?? The cosmos owes us a break, and I mean to collect on it."

"I'm not sure that the cosmos plays by anybody's rules but its own," Liz said softly, with a worried tone but somehow soothing, not trying to upset Maria as such. "The rules of karma don't always make much sense to us, at least not without a lot of hindsight."

Isabel shook that part off. "Is there anything that we can do for you? Either of you?"

Michael smiled. "No... at least I don't think so." He looked into Maria's face for a long moment, and she shook her head slightly, caramel waves flowing in the still air. "Thanks anyway. You guys are kind of tied up at Las Cruces for now anyway. We just wanted to make sure that you'd heard, really. And I think you realize now why we wanted it to be as in-person and secure as possible."

Isabel nodded slightly. "As far as this goes, yes." She stared out at Michael suddenly, her face incredibly still and intense. "But what are you not telling us, Michael??"

He spluttered in surprise for a moment. "How... how could you tell?"

She smiled slightly, sitting back into my enfolding arm. "Actually, I really couldn't. Call that speculation, or a very good bluff, whatever you like."

Michael groaned. "But there *is* something, isn't there?" Maria pressed him. "You've given that much away already, admit it. So you'd better come clean with whatever it is, if you know what's good for you."

Michael shrugged a little awkwardly. "It's not definitely anything. But a bunch of really little things have been starting to form a pattern in my mind. Tess is getting odd and extremely vague premonitions. Someone broke into my locker at the Crashdown and searched it. The way we found out about Maria being in the family way -- she was on a ladder that fell for no particularly good reason, broke her arm. While healing it, Max realized that something else was going on inside her body."

"I told you," Maria said, "I didn't hook the ladder up properly, and that's why it fell. You don't need to start getting worried about that..."

"You're not *sure* that you didn't do it properly," he told her softly, "You're just assuming that because it seems like the most likely explanation. I'm not so convinced." He sighed. "I think it's quite possible that there's some malign person or group in Roswell. Scouting us out, ready to make his or her or their move."

"Oh lordy, can't we get a break from that??" Maria sighed.

"We have had a break, I think," Max put in. "It's been over three months since the Gandarium were wiped out, and they were the only things this year that really qualified as 'hostile alien forces.' We probably haven't put the time off to much good use, but those are the breaks. Could be that the next thing has started."

"I so didn't want to hear that," Liz grumped. "Thanks a lot Isabel - your speculative bluff got the rest of us into this."

Alex laughed a little bit, and sighed. "Well maybe. Would you rather not have known, Liz??"

"Yes." A pause. "I dunno, not sure maybe. But still, let me blame the messenger a little, kay?"

"Michael was the messenger," Isabel protested. "If there is one. I was just the message to the messenger, or... or something that makes a little more sense than that."

"Don't know that we need to worry about blaming anyone," Maria put in. "Time to be a little more careful I guess."

"Not too careful I hope," Isabel quipped. "Remember, we're coming back home for the Fourth weekend, and Alex and I expect big festivities. Someone mentioned something about having a barbecue and campout in Frazier woods? An actual, honest-to-god campout, not telling the parental units that we're going camping as a cover for big hairy danger??"

"Sounds good to me too, Izzie," Max told her. "We'll do the best we can to deliver, but big hairy danger doesn't necessarily keep to a schedule."

"It just better not piss me off, that's all I'm saying," Isabel muttered under her breath.

There was a pleasant silence for a few moments. "Okay, so just how do we all get out of this dream??" Michael asked.

"Umm, I guess that might be up to me," Isabel said with a smile. "Sure there isn't anything else??"

"Max, Michael, Isabel wants one or both of you to come up in person to visit her if you can," I said, so quickly I hadn't even had time to think about it. I realized that she was going to turn and glare at me even before she did. "Well, you had mentioned it to me," I maintained, "and this doesn't really seem like a good time for trying to beat around the bush."

"Okay," she admitted. "Maybe it's better for that thought to be out here in the open. Not a huge deal, guys, I'd like to point out. Just... I miss both of you, and that isn't something that dreams or phone calls or email can really do that much about."

"Of course," Michael said. "I'll try to get down there when I can... that's okay right Maria? I mean, I know you said that you don't need me around every single minute, but three-hundred plus miles is kinda different, and...."

"It'll be fine," she assured him. "I was just up there, remember? Though I'm not sure if I'll be going again very soon, I admit."

"Okay," I said. "Is that the last of it??"

"I have a question for you about hair conditioner, actually," Liz admitted, looking a little embarrassed to admit it, "but I don't.... (huge yawn,) remember all the details. Will probably send them along in an email some day soon, 'kay?"

"Um, sure, of course," Isabel agreed. "Nothing else? Okay, ten second warning." She held up her hand, and I moved closer to her, hugging her tightly. Wasn't sure if there was any chance that the trip back out would be as freaky as the ride in, but I wasn't looking forward to finding out. Somehow, being so close to her seemed like it would push the odds in my favor, even if her holding me close before hadn't done that much good that I knew of.

I didn't have anything to worry about. The dream room seemed to shatter around me, and after an odd moment of reorientation I realize that I was back in my bed, Isabel behind me, just as we had been at the start. "Whew," I muttered.

"Umm, Alex??" Isabel had an odd, probing tone in her voice, and I sat up so as to be able to swing around and face her without trying to roll on top of her. "Did something go wrong there? Like, right at the beginning of the dream walk??"

"Umm, yeah, actually, I kind of think so." I didn't want to admit it straight out, so instead I took the initiative and asked *her.* "What was it like for you, going into those dreams, before the light came on?? Before Maria spoke to us??"

"Umm... Kind of weird even by dream walking standards, I have to admit," She said. "Normally I just kind of appear somewhere that already exists. But this time there was no pre-existing dream with all four of them in it, so I kind of had to fly around on some sort of a dream plane, bringing them together."

"What did it look like to you?" I persisted.

"Umm, well, not 'look' as such, but it was kinduv blue and silvery, with different people's dreams like gigantic balls or spheres, of all different colors. Why?"

I explained what the transition had been like for me, as tersely as I could, and her eyes grew wide in belated concern and regret. "Oh, sorry honey. I didn't realize it would be like that for you. I'm surprised that you didn't chew me out as soon as we got there... well, no, actually I'm not surprised. With anyone else I would be... but it's not particularly like something you'd do, though maybe you should have said something, even in front of the others." She looked deep into my eyes. "Or were you too proud to admit to fear in front of them?"

"Maybe a little... it's not like I haven't admitted being scared to them before, but this was different." I sighed. "Not sure if I've ever really believed in an afterlife, but being stuck in a state like that permanently... to me, that's a pretty good depiction of hell."

"For me too, I have to admit." Isabel sighed. "I think that maybe you're just not equipped to perceive the dream plane in the same way as I am, because it's a unique talent -- maybe not even to move around in it by yourself. Everything else... not being able to speak or hear or feel that you have a body... I think I experienced all of that too, but I was just too busy to really get wigged out by it. But... I promise you this, I could see you the whole time, and I don't think I was ever too far away. If there was some kind of danger, I would have come for you, and there was NO way I was ever going to leave you there. I didn't realize that you couldn't see me as easily as I saw you."

"Yeah, I think I realized that," I said. "but thanks for saying it out loud - that helps. Not sure I want to go through that again anytime soon, even so."

"You don't have to," she said. "I think I'd like to take you into a single person's dream sometime, because I think that'll help you not be afraid of it so much. You don't see the dream plane hardly at all that way. Just 'poof' and you're inside someone else's head. If you don't want to, I'd understand, but..."

"No, it's okay, probably," I told her. "I think I'd be up for that, some other night." I yawned and looked at the clock... it read one twenty-nine AM. "Now I think I'd probably get some real sleep. You wanna stay over?"

"Mmm... heaven." She leaned over and kissed me, long and sweet. "'Specially since I'm already in my jammies."

I wondered briefly if I'd be scared of the darkness in my room, and the blankness of sleep, after what I'd been through... and also whether lying down with Isabel would get me worked up. Neither seemed to be an issue, actually - as I lay down with my arm around her, everything seemed to be more or less right with my world, and it can't have been more than five minutes before I drifted into a deep and apparently dreamless sleep.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

(Maria):

"Thanks for understanding," I said into the cell phone. "I don't know why my Mom insisted on me going to her office and doing this, but it seemed really important to her. I promise it won't take long."

"Don't worry about it," Michael's voice came back via the radio frequencies or whatever. "You'll get here when you can get here, right?? I certainly don't mind you doing a quick favor for your mother... we're trying to get on her good side right now, aren't we? Considering the kind of news we're going to have to tell her eventually?"

"Um, yeah," I agreed. "Thanks, I love you so much. Umm... kinda gotta go now, alright?"

"Yeah, sure. Maybe give me another quick ring to let me know that you've finished the errand and you're on your way??"

"Yeah, definitely," I assured him.

My mom got this business office last fall, a two-room affair on the second story of a stumpy red brick building. The rent on it isn't much and she says that it pays for itself just as a PR thing... there isn't much she can do at the office that she can't do working out of our house, like she used to do, (and still does at least half the time,) but she can make more deals when she has an office to invite customers or suppliers to. I hadn't heard the cell phone ring while I was at work at the cafe, but when I was on my way to pick Michael up I'd found out that there was a voice message waiting on it... Mom, asking if I could grab a few flyers that she'd had made up with picture samples of Jim's carpentry work on them, stamps, and pre-addressed envelopes sitting on her desk, put it all together and drop them into the mail so as to be sure they'd be picked up with the early morning post. I parked the bronto in the parking lot, hurried through the front door, up the stairs, and used the spare key that Mom had given me to get inside. Okay, there were the catalogs, there the stamps, and -- were these the envelopes? No, because there were no addresses on them. Hmm. She'd said on her desk, right?? I looked around quickly, and then got my cell phone out to check the message again.

I didn't hear footsteps behind me. I didn't see movement out of the corner of my eye. Just a sensation of...

Blackness.

----------

For a relatively pleasant, dizzy moment, the only thing that existed was the darkness. And then, from out of the night, a strong hard slapped me hard, and brought pain with it. Not just pain on my face, where the slap had connected, but in my elbow and knee joints, hands and feet, and in my midsection... oh, no! Was the baby okay? What the fuck was going on??

"You with us, sweetheart?" the rough, deep voice asked. For a second, I thought it was... no, it couldn't be.

Then I opened my eyes as another thought occurred to me, and heard a few chuckling voices. Focus seemed to take forever to develop, but somehow I knew what I would see, when I could see. Yes, it was Rath and Lonnie, not quite in their full New York punk regalia, but looking similar enough to the way they had last November to be unmistakeable. It was something about their faces that made it clear more than anything else, cruel and arrogant expressions that Michael and Isabel had never come close to.

Okay, we had obviously reached the bit where the truehearted pregnant girl is abducted and held hostage by bad guys. "It - it wathh you," I blurted out, and felt obliged to correct for the clumsiness of my mouth after getting knocked out or whatever. "Was you. The ones that Michael thought were snooping around town, plotting something."

"Oh, so weasel-hair was onto us, huh?" Lonnie laughed. "Too bad he didn't keep a little closer eye on you, my precious, my little doll face. But then, he's a rank pitter and always will be. Which is why we're gonna trounce him and his friends within an inch of their lives this time, heh heh heh."

"You talk big, you always did," I said quietly. "Of course, last time you made a move on Max, it didn't go too well for you. Really that confident about the rematch??"

Rath spat nearly in my face. I suddenly realized that I was lying on some sort of couch, with the two Dupes sneering down at me, and beyond their faces were some kind of really bright lights, many of them in distinct primary colors. "Those bitches back here in Roswell had one trick that we weren't counting on, and that's all it takes. But we haven't missed anything this time, and you'd better believe it."

"For instance, you're probably hoping that Michael will charge though the doors any minute to save you, right? Well, he'll be coming to try, but we're prepared. We know more or less how long he'll take to find the clues we left at yer mommy's office, and that he'll go back to find Max for backup. Max will want to let one of the others know, but they're all out on that queer little film shoot, and the prima donna director didn't let anybody else take cell phones. So it'll just be the two of them, and they'll be worried and probably won't stop to check out the situation enough." Rath started to laugh, a very ugly sound.

"And - my mom?" I blurted out for some reason.

"Oh, she's fine, off doing business in Carlsbad just like ya thought," Lonnie told her. "Doesn't even know that you went near her hideout." She mimed picking up a phone, and suddenly Lonnie's voice became a perfect replica of my mom's. "Hey, angel. Just wanted to say thanks for getting those flyers into the mail for me. Love yas a bunch and I'll be back home tomorrow night. Toodles!!" And then it was Lonnie's usual voice again. "Direct molecular alteration of the vocal cords. Can be a real pain to find the right combination to impersonate another voice, but real useful occasionally."

This was all a little too much, and there didn't seem to be anything I could practically do at the moment, so I just lay my head back, closed my eyes, and let out a huge, long groan of frustration. The dupes, for whatever reason, didn't bother me. Anything Rath had woken me up for, he'd given up on... or he'd already gotten it and I didn't even notice.

-----------

Might have passed out or fallen asleep again - I'm not really sure. When I was clearly aware again, this time nobody talked to me. I looked around.... was still on the couch, which in turn was on the auditorium stage of West Roswell High, which explained the primary-colored bright lights I had notices.... all of the stage floodlights were on. Rath was glaring at me from about twenty feet away. Now that I could focus on him a little more clearly, he didn't look that much like he had last time... His hair was grown out of the Mohawk or whatever, but it was still shoulder-length in the back and a little big up top, and still that same ash brown shade as Michael's.

He was wearing a white T-shirt with a thrash band logo, a long-sleeved jean jacket with none of the snaps fastened, and fairly plain black pants. It was hard to tell if he still had any of his tattoos, since all of the sites that I remembered were covered up.

Following Rath's line of sight past me, I spotted Lonnie, sitting on the stage floor, knees pointing up and her hands on top of them, eyes closed, apparently concentrating very deeply. Her hair was a bit longer now, neck length and nearly straight, with all the ugly ash-grey tones washed out, though it somehow still didn't seem quite as bright as Isabel's. She wore the same tank top and long loose pants that I remembered, or a similar style at least. Something caught my eyes on one of the fingers or her right hand - a ring, some sort of jewellery again. With a pretty gem stone, red like a ruby or pretty garnet, except that when it caught the light just right, it seemed pale yellow instead. Huh... must be a trick of these flood lamps I supposed.

After a while.... maybe two minutes or so, she got up and went over to Rath. "They're here. Call it T minus one-fifty."

Rath nodded, taking what looked like a simple radio-frequency remote control out of his jacket pocket. "Places, everyone." He and Lonnie wandered over near the two stairways down from the stage.

One fifty... one hundred and fifty seconds? That was two-and-a-half minutes. Or it could be one minute, fifty seconds. I tried to count off the time, but I kept counting way too fast, and I'd lost count a couple of times before the auditorium door opened, a faint rectangular window of light down in the darkness of the audience, and two figures stepped into that light. One of them lifted up his hand, then reconsidered, and they both stepped through quickly, getting out of the way of the door so it didn't make them a tempting target.

Rath laughed and triggered his remote. The stage floodlights went off instantly, and the door swung itself closed. I think I heard the sound of a lock bolt slipping home, but that might have just been my imagination.

There were pale, eerie blue lights illuminating the audience section now... had they just been switched on now too, or had they been on the whole time, drowned out by other light?? Max and Michael could now be clearly seen at the back of the auditorium, and there was nowhere for them to hide from the light. Except the obvious way -- they each scrambled to dive behind the back row of seats in the audience, effectively hiding them from view of the stage at least.

The stage itself had to be just a threatening patch of blackness to them. I could see Rath and Lonnie's silhouettes against the house lights, because I was behind them. Was there any way for me to go and turn the stage lights back on? Not from backstage... they were controlled from the control booth, up in the catwalks above the audience. But... but if there was just a chance that I could get to Rath's remote control...

I crept up from the couch, my body still feeling sore but not unusable, and headed towards his silhouette as quietly as I could. Not nearly quietly enough, I guess... I caught a bit of motion and suddenly my ankle was complaining loudly, not supporting my weight. I balanced on the other one for a few seconds before toppling gracelessly to the ground, catching the impact with my knees and hands as much as possible to reduce the danger to the baby. "Bad move, sweet pea," Rath growled. "Get yourself back there, if you can." Frustrated, I scrambled back in the direction of the couch, none too quickly. The ankle REALLY hurt - it felt as if something had been fractured in that area. Dammit.

Max and Michael, meanwhile, had heard the noises and started to scramble up the aisles, covering themselves as well as they could. Lonnie laughed and sent a faint power bolt in Max's direction, and he yelped as it passed over his head and returned fire... not even close.

After a long moment, they were close enough to maybe make a run for the stage, and Lonnie and Rath started shooting more in earnest. "C'mon, Max," I mumbled under my breath, and sure enough, that green shield blossomed in mid-air, big enough to cover Michael too even though they were still on separate aisles. Lonnie and Rath hit the shield a few times with big bolts, and then dropped down to firing the occasional buzzer, apparently trying to make Max keep the shield up for as long as possible.

Some shape dropped out of the catwalks, just behind Max. He saw it, but didn't dare drop the shield, so tried to fire one blast of invisible energy the other way, but it didn't seem to work. The new guy, (who seemed a little short, but that was all that I could make out through the wavy green light,) sent some kind of shimmering energy field at Max, who tried to dodge, but it was no good. He collapsed, and his green shield collapsed. Michael, caught by surprise, looked around and vaulted over several seats, orienting on the new intruder, who waved and created a dark red shield, which swallowed up Michael's blue energy pulses. Then Rath caught Michael with what looked like a yellow phaser beam, and he screamed and staggered. Lonnie glared at him, and he wilted and finally lay still, half sprawled over the back of two uncomfortable seats.

A cold chill ran through me. So far, we were doing really badly the worse for this confrontation. And then I recognized the face of the new player in the soft blue light that was still shining in the audience area. Nicholas Crawford, the pint-sized warlord of Copper Summit, who had very nearly zapped away ever human being in Roswell... and Kivar's envoy to planet Earth.

He must have been following Lonnie and Rath, pissed off with how they had disappointed him in New York. Now they'd led him to Roswell, and I couldn't guess what would happen next. Would they shoot it out right now? If Nicholas overpowered the dupes, what would HE want to do with the others and me??

"Okay, I admit it," Lonnie's voice sounded. "Your timing wasn't bad. Ready for phase two?"

"Yeah," Nicholas agreed, smirking. "Give your better half a kiss goodbye if you want it... I know he's bummed about having to pull the guard duty."

Oh, *CRAP*!!! Nicholas wasn't gunning for Rath and Lonnie after all, it was worse. He'd teamed up with them. Was it even conceivable that our ass wasn't toast now??

The stage lights came up a bit, and Lonnie and Rath shared a passionate kiss before Lonnie hopped down the entire height of the stage, walking around Max's still body and back out of the auditorium with Nicholas. I groaned and decided that right now would probably be a good time to pass out again. Of course, it didn't quite work like that, and I sat there on the couch, unable to stop crying, my ankle hurting worse and worse, as Rath started to gather up the unconscious or worse bodies of my friends.

-------------

(Kyle):

"Cut, I'm sorry. Cut!" Trevor waited a few seconds before walking into the shot. "Kyle, I'm not sure how to say this, but... you're playing it over the top, and that's not really the point. The Black Knight isn't supposed to be ha-ha-ha aren't I evil. He's..." The director broke off, trying to figure out how to explain things.

"He doesn't think that he's the bad guy," Martin put in. "For the movie, he is, but that's not something he believes about himself. Am I right?" Martin turned to Trevor to see if there would be agreement about his analysis of the character.

"Yeah, that's it," Trevor replied, nodding enthusiastically. "The Knight is doing what he thinks is necessary to keep order here in his little piece of the world. The more the insurgents cry out that the old laws are unjust, the more determined he becomes that enforcing them is the right thing to do. They worked well enough for his father and his grandfather, after all."

I sighed a little. Never claimed to be that much of an actor, after all, and the film geek threesome seemed to be acting especially twitchy now that we were out of rehearsals and actually shooting video. But I breathed for a second and tried to look at the situation from their point of view -- I had chosen to sign up for this... I owed it to Trevor and the rest to try as hard as I could, and it was the director's job to tell me about what was needed and help me deliver it, among other things.

"Umm, okay yeah, I think I can... can work with that," I said with an odd trace of uncertainty running around in my mind. What that description had instantly brought to mind... was Tess and Liz's stories about Nasedo. I'd never met him myself, but... self-righteous bastard who can do the most heinous things while believing that he was completely justified... check. Now, could I actually draw on that indirect experience to help my performance any?? "Do you want to do another take right now??"

Trevor considered that for a few moments. "No, you take a moment with your motivation, Kyle, and I want to try something different with the camera. That's five, people!!" I walked back out of the shot, and noticed that Liz and Tess were standing a little ways off, so I went over to join them.

"Are you two arguing about one of Liz's costumes??" I asked.

"Actually, no, just talking about, erm, about some stuff to do with before I came to Roswell," Tess muttered. Oh, right, that would be connected with Liz's other new role this summer -- she had appointed herself the mistress archivist of all things alien-related, interviewing all of the pod squad and trying to cross-reference everything that had happened to them here in Roswell, going back before the shooting.

"I thought you were pretty good there, Kyle," Liz said, smiling slightly and brushing a stray fallen leave out of a chink in my fake 'armor.' "But of course, I'm not the big film genius."

"Well, thanks for the reassurance anyway," I told her. "Hopefully, next time will be right... Trevor might explode if we don't get some good dailies on file today."

We chatted amongst ourselves for a few minutes more, and then Martin called me back for my scene. I really got into the notion of being the Black Knight as an Ed Harding-like guy, whose actions were over the top but believed that everything he was doing, or saying, was completely justified, if not reserved. All of a sudden, there was an odd sound. Soft, at first, but people started to mutter, and then exclaim in voices just not quite loud or defined enough for me to make out what they were saying. "The hell?" Trevor burst out, obviously frustrated that the crew were ruining what had been a perfectly good shot. "Cut! What in the name of unholy Thespis is...?"

"Kyle?" a single voice rang out, and there was a hard-to-define quality about the word that instantly sent a peculiar pulse of tingles all the way up my spine. It was Liz who had said the word, definitely, and she was... worried. I couldn't tell immediately if she was worried about me, or worried about something else and hoping that I could help, or what, but I intended to reassure her one way or another, if I possibly could.

I started to run down the path, towards where Liz's voice had come from. As I brushed past Trevor and his camera, (which made the angry look on his face even more pronounced,) there was another soft sound, and something I couldn't make out whizzed through the air just inches above my head, and slightly off to one side. One instant later, I was lying in a heap on the ground and forest roots... would like to tell you that was a deliberate move, hitting the ground so as to take cover from whatever it is, but... no. I was just scared and fell down. (It kinduv works about as well that way, though.)

Another whizzing projectile sound, louder and nastier... and someone screaming. Possibly -- oh boy, it sounded like Donna Mason, the assistant producer, who was a funny girl a grade behind us in school. Whatever was going on, either she was in pain, or very very frightened. Either of those possibilities made me angry.

Taking a deep breath, I scrambled up a little, and tried to crawl down the path as quickly as I could without presenting much of a target. It wasn't easy or pleasant, mostly because of the many exposed roots and little pointy stones in the ground, but... suddenly I realized that Liz was about ten feet away and scrambling towards me in an awkward kind of crouching scuttle. "Kyle... You're okay!?" It was halfway between a relieved exclamation and a question.

"Yeah... you?"

"I'm f... f... fine," she managed to stammer out. "But I... I nearly got roasted by a, by a fire bolt or something." She waved back the way she had come, and I realized that a few of the trees were burning. "And -- and Tess!!"

"Oh, no." Air and energy seemed to whiz out through my lungs and throat with the face that Liz made, saying Tess' name. "What happened to her? Is she hurt??"

"I... I don't know!! She just... Kyle, it was like an invisible hand picked her up and carried her into the thickest trees."

"Oh, great." A few things were starting to become very obvious here. The film shoot was being attacked by aliens of some description... and the only person here who had alien powers to fight back with, was also the one who was in the most trouble, and nowhere nearby. "Any idea what we do now??"

"Umm, well..." Right at that moment, ironically enough, a blue pulse shot out from behind a tree and slammed into Liz's side. Her eyes rolled up into her head, and then closed, and her body slumped down completely, like she was a puppet whose strings had been cut. I grabbed her hand and felt for a pulse at the wrist... still seemed strong and regular. Hopefully, that meant she was just stunned and not badly hurt.

"Well, I might do that yet," I mumbled out loud. "But it doesn't seem like that great an idea. So..." I tried to dash off, at an angle compared to the tree that the energy blast had come from. Like I was doing a forward hook pattern on the football field, except slightly different because I didn't need to worry about people shooting at me when I was playing football. Then pivot, and charge again in a new direction...

It worked pretty well, compared to some of the possible outcomes. I managed to grab the arm of somebody who'd been hiding behind the tree and drag him or her out halfway into the open. The first thing I realized was that she looked like Isabel, except for the hair being different, shorter than shoulder-length and a kind of light brown, or blondish-brown. She was wearing a low-cut grey tank top.

The second thing I realized was that she packed one heck of a strong punch... literally. I had a vague impression of a fist coming towards my head, then a burst of pain, and a realization that my awareness was fading. Oh, really great job Kyle. Knocked out by a girl with a single hit. Even if she was an alien g...

-------------

(Liz):

Everything was black, and then dizzy, and then swimmy. I looked around, but the surroundings were dim: some kind of...

"Liz!! You're awake??"

It was Max's voice!! I followed the direction, and noticed that the dark lump next to me looked kind of Max-ly, if I squinted at it a little. At this point, I also noticed that my wrists and ankles were all tied together behind my back, in a very awkward and undignified way. Suddenly, everything that had happened at the movie shoot came back to me, the alien attack. But... but Max hadn't been at the movie shoot, had he? No, he hadn't. He must have... have gotten caught some other way. Dammit!

"Megz..." Okay, one, my mouth hurt, and two, that didn't come out right. Tried to enunciate a little harder. "Maxx..." That was a little better. "Can you... can you do anything? Cut these ropes, or..."

"No, no." Max groaned. "I... I don't know what they did to me, but I can't use my powers. Dammit."

"Is -- who else is here?" I asked him softly.

"Michael and Maria, and Tess. Not sure about Kyle... I think I heard them put someone else on the other side of you, who I can't really see. Is that he?"

"Um, yeah, yeah it is." Kyle had a big black eye starting to form on his insensate face. Details were starting to occur to me about the place where we were... a rough, functional room with concrete walls and no windows. The air smelled stale and dusty... possibly we were underground. "Any idea where we are?"

"I remember getting carried down through a hatchway from the open desert," Max mumbled. "Maybe an abandoned missile silo or army bunker."

Oh, that's just great. Somewhere that nobody at all would ever think of looking for us. "And -- well, who was it who captured us?? I didn't get a good look."

"Nicholas, and Lonnie," Michael groaned from somewhere over on the other side of Max. "And Rath. They've teamed up again, dammit."

"Oh, no," I muttered.

"I'm... I'm really worried about Maria," Michael muttered. "She's passed out again, and I couldn't get a straight answer out of her about what happened... she was the first one they got, Liz. I just... I have this awful feeling about..." He didn't need to finish that sentence. We all knew what he was thinking, which was: 'The baby!'

Not long after that, an incredibly bright light snapped on, some kind of floodlight or something like that. It was pointed from one end of the room, hitting Max and Kyle and I more or less in the direction that we were tied up facing. "Alright, losers, I think you know the score by now," a sarcastic voice called out... a familiar voice. Little Nicholas. "You're helpless. You can't do anything to free yourselves now that we've slapped resonant nullifiers on all of you. Notice, if you like, that we're learning. Maybe the only ones who really needed to have their powers taken away were the true hybrids, but Parker -- you ruined things once before, you and the Vilandra knockoff with the long blonde hair, and that little bitch Ava. Thus, you have some miniscule potential to develop superhuman powers at the worst possible moment, and if you have, it was probably because Max healed you, so Valenti would have a miniscule fraction of a miniscule fraction of that potential too. And everybody's sweetheart, Maria DeLuca, well... it didn't take that much insight to realize that she's got a quarter-alien bun in the oven. Better safe than sorry."

"Enough of the rambling grandstand speeches," I muttered, more out of reverse psychology than anything. Nicholas had just given away something that might be useful... I realized, once he mentioned it, that there was some kind of thong or string around my neck, holding a smooth and cool metal object flat against the skin of my throat. Max and Kyle had them too. If they were what were keeping alien powers away, then maybe we'd be able to get rid of one somehow. By griping about Nicholas' rambles, he'd just be more likely to grandstand even more, as a way to piss someone off. Or at least, I thought that he was ornery enough to do that.

"Alright, down to business it is then. We want three things from you."

"Let me guess," Max muttered. "One is the granilith, two is for me to come along for a public execution in Kivar's court, and three is, umm... actually, I'm blanking a bit here."

"A good pair of elevator shoes?" Tess put in.

"No disrespect." The growl was Rath, I think... and the sudden gurgling was Tess... I'm not sure who had pulled a Darth Vader on her. My guess would be Lonnie, actually. "The next one who smart-asses any of us gets a lot worse than that, so remember respect." Tess was sputtering by the time he finished saying that, which meant that she'd been allowed to breathe before suffocating I suppose.

"Just tell me one thing," I blurted out. "The film crew... the other people who were there when you attacked us in the woods. Did you hurt them??"

"Well, of course I hurt them," Nicholas laughed again. "It wouldn't have been fun if I hadn't. Not quite sure, to tell you the truth, if I killed anybody. But I definitely got a *kick* out of trying out the double-barrel plasma rifle!!"

"As he was saying," Lonnie chimed in now. "Three things. The first, yes, is access to the Granilith. Second is the book that Tess got from the handprint in the public library wall. Nicholas will be able to read it, and it has instructions for working the Granilith. Third, we'll need the key, it's a short crystal rod."

"We... we don't have anything like that," Michael said. "Really, really we don't."

"Don't give me that," Rath shouted from behind the light. "They must have given it to you, because we don't have it."

"Maybe... maybe the shape shifter hid it somewhere," Tess burst out. "He was like that. He could have planned to tell us about it, but he was killed suddenly. I... I might be able to find it for you, if you give me a chance. Just don't hurt anybody."

"Find it," someone insisted. "Finding it is good."

"I dunno," Lonnie countered. "I don't think she *needs* to find it. That's some kind of trick, a ruse to get herself free. The protector wouldn't have hidden it from them that long. They have to know where it is already."

Uh-oh. This really didn't sound good.

------------

(Michael):

"You can torture me, you can kill Liz or whatever," Max was shouting, "but you cannot force me to tell you something that I simply DON'T KNOW, alright!!" He let out a loud moan. "Come on, Lonnie... you can get into my head, right?? The same way that Isabel could? You can see that I'm telling the truth."

There was a moment's silence, and then this really evil chuckle. "Ooohh... get into your head. Why didn't I think of that before?" That was Nicholas, and all of a sudden the floodlight flicked to a new setting... not quite off, but much softer, just a faint light in our area. Nicholas himself walked out and crossed the distance between the light source and Max, his small body casting an eerily vague shadow across all of us. "But you know me, Max... I'd never settle for just looking inside someone's mind for a moment." He stretched out a small hand. "I like to really poke around in there and get my hands dirty... so to speak."

So, that was it. They weren't fooling around anymore. Nicholas was about to brain-rape Max... (Got, could there be a more disturbing way to phrase that??) All kinds of things were running through my mind and crashing into each other at that moment... how horrible that would be for Max, how many interesting things Nicholas might find out if he did it. I had to stop it, but I was as helpless as he was.

And then there was a voice, a soft voice, but almost literally as clear as a bell. "Okay, Michael, I've found the hatch. Will be coming inside in a moment, but you'll need to create a diversion so that they don't notice me. And for god's sake, don't let them check the perimeter."

It was a familiar voice, but at the moment that familiarity was just an extra source of confusion to me. I looked over at Tess, but she didn't seem to have heard what I heard. The words just plain didn't make sense... 'I've found the hatch -- will be coming inside.'

Nicholas was almost at Max's side, but he turned around and called over his shoulder. "Lonnie, check the perimeter. This is the last moment that we need an unwelcome surprise."

Check the perimeter. Okay, I didn't understand what was going on, but following those instructions was the only course I could see to follow at the moment. Create a diversion and stop Lonnie. But how...

Lonnie stepped forward a bit, so that her figure was partly visible in the edges of the soft light. "Aww, jeez? I'll do it, but dontcha go starting on the guy until I'm done, Nicholas." She stretched out her left hand, and I saw something glinting on one of her fingers. "You know how much I love watching ya work."

"Thief!!" I really had no idea why that word burst out of my mouth. The entire evil trio stepped closer, surrounding me.

"Now, it seems to me that we told you about respect," Lonnie muttered. "And it also seems to me that that word ain't a very respectful one. So, the question naturally occurs to someone who's been following' along... are you too dumb to pay attention to what's good for you, 'Guerin', or do you actually have the balls to back up fighting' words??"

"I've got all the balls I need," I muttered. "Take this damn thing off my throat and I'll prove it."

Rath considered that, and laughed nastily. "Naw, we're not quite *that* dumb, buddy."

"An' I didn't steal nothin," Lonnie hissed at me. "Rath gave this to me."

"Then he's the thief," I argued back. I hadn't planned any of this, but it seemed like somehow I had stumbled onto the one line of conversation that would work as a suitable diversion, and damned if I wasn't going to push it as hard as I could, short of literally, actually asking them to kill me right now. "I don't know how I recognize it, but I do. That thing is MINE."

"Well, what do ya know," Rath laughed. "You got enough of your alien DNA straight to think so. Sorry Mike, close but not quite. You think that it's yours because you've got the memories that were meant for me, to realize that it's MINE. That's why I got it, before you even realized you came from outta this world, huh?? And I gave it to Lonnie a year ago, to seal our alliance, and because she can use it. But that doesn't keep it from being mine, really. Someday, maybe, it'll pass on to one of our brats, if we ever get old and decide to get her knocked up. Not dumb enough to do it right now, like some people that I could mention."

I let the reference to our baby pass by without comment. "Well, I don't know who gave it to you, if it was your shape shifter or what, but whoever it is was wrong. You may have more alien DNA than I do, but I'm the real heir of Rath. *You're* the mistake."

"Well, then, maybe I'll just need to kill you right away," Rath snarled, stretching out his arm and flexing his fingers.

"Come on, Rath," Nicholas groaned. "As much as I hate to admit it, we can't afford to kill anyone yet. Michael might be the only one who has vital information that we need." He looked down at me, (because I was still tied up on the floor,) and grinned an evil grin. "Which means, I guess, that he gets to be the first one whose brain I search."

"No, I don't think he does." This time, everybody did a double take at the voice, and our three enemies instinctively looked around to see where it was coming from. Which seemed to be an utterly unremarkable part of the ceiling of the bunker. By this time, though, I'd kinduv figured out what was going on.

That sentence hadn't been spoken out loud; it had been mind warped -- the last little bit of misdirection necessary to throw all three of them off the track.

Two blobs of brilliant purple-white light streaked from the far end of the bunker, a little bit off to the side of the floodlight where the Trio had started to harass us from. One blob struck Nicholas dead on, and he screamed as violet flames engulfed his body. The other streaked past Rath, burning his arm badly, and knocked Lonnie back several feet from the gust of superheated air generated as it whizzed by. Those of us who were tied up were safe from the original charged, being forced a few feet below the level that they stayed at, but the plasma flames or whatever licking at Nicholas' shoes were starting to make me feel nervous. He was concentrating, though, and managing to get the flames around his face and chest put out though.

As the second small ball of white fire smashed into the far wall of the bunker, its light brightened the entire space, and I looked over at where the two shots had come from. I could feel a smile cross my face. There was another familiar face with unfamiliar hair... pale golden hair, but short, a little shorter than Lonnie's. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt and simple blue jeans, and carrying something that looked a little bit like it might have been a Martian shotgun. She smiled at me, and the thin leather strip around my neck snapped, falling away entirely.

The sensation was like flipping a switch back on. Immediately my powers were back at full strength... no time required to charge them up or allow the interference to fade away. Altering the molecules of the ropes tying me up was a simple thing... that's a trick that I've practiced, actually... seemed inevitable that sooner or later it would be important. Before anything else though, I looked up at Nicholas, and we made eye contact. He noticed that my neck restraint was missing, and his eyes narrowed in fury. Somehow I could tell... it didn't matter if he was going to die regardless. Nicholas would do anything that he could to see me in hell, as it were.

Right away I seized as much of the element of surprise as was up for grabs, realizing that it might be my only chance. Picked up Nicholas' body with my powers, (it wasn't that hard, since he didn't weight much,) and slammed him as well as I could against the wall, trying to break the seal on his Husk. But that didn't work, and Nicholas' eyes seemed to flash as he counterattacked. But I didn't feel anything, and a strangled groan from a few feet away told me the truth. Nicholas *hadn't* attacked me.

He had realized that the best way to cause me pain was to hurt Maria.

That was the last pain that Nicholas would ever have the chance to cause. I dropped him down about a foot away from the wall, used my powers to pick up a heavy length of pipe, maybe two feet long and two and a half feet in diameter. It was heavy, but I had the raging strength of twenty hybrids. Heavy was GOOD, right now.

And I sent the pipe crashing into the small of Nicholas' back. The expression on his face was still smirking slightly as he exploded. I spared one second to look around and evaluate the tactical situation.

Things were dark, but Max was definitely up, and Tess was working on untying herself... I couldn't tell if her throat suppressor was off or not. Lonnie had backed up against one of the walls, and Rath was... Rath was staring at Max with an expression of concentration on his face, and Max was distracted, part of his attention on Lonnie, part of it on Liz. He wasn't ready to put up his shield, and Rath could hurt him very badly in a moment. "Noo!" I screamed... not the most effective warning I know, but it was a confusing situation.

Ava... it had to be Ava who had saved all our asses thus far, responded to my shout by orienting on Rath, making a slight adjustment to the 'shotgun' so that the barrels pointed in slightly, focusing on a single target, and blasted. Rath growled slightly, deep in his throat, and one of the plasma bolts screamed in a wide arc, turning back towards Ava herself... but when the other charge slammed into Rath's body, the other one stopped turning and so ran into the wall behind and to one side of her, not that far from the ladder that presumably led up to the hatch and out of this little hellhole.

I didn't waste much thought on my cruel doppelganger, or anyone else... something else was still on my mind. "Max!! Maria -- I think she's hurt."

Max took about three seconds to absorb what had happened before nodding his understanding, and scrambling over to where Maria lay. I wanted to go right over there and join him, but if there was anything I could do to help, Max would let me know, and other things to worry about. Rath was trying put out the plasma flames clinging to him the same way that Nicholas had, but not having as much luck, and right now I was more worried about what he'd do to someone else if he had the chance, than his own safety. Liz and Kyle seemed to be all right... Tess and Ava were both guarding Lonnie and watching to see if she'd make a move or not.

I could hear Maria gasp a little bit, and then breathe heavily, but a regular breath that sounded very reassuring, and Max sighed slightly with relief. Rath had put out most of the flames at this point, but he'd also collapsed, and somehow it seemed clear to me that he was dying. There were a few things that I wanted answers to before that happened. So I knelt carefully down next to him, all of my senses on guard, and quenched the last licking violet fire myself.

"The ring... whose was it? What does it mean??"

Rath made a sound that was halfway between a moan and a gargle. "So that's what you want to know?? It -- it was the prize of our house; our family back home... the house of Selezir. Called the jewel of Kindarra. Rath's only inheritance... but he couldn't use it. Nobody male can, something strange and mysterious about it. That's why I gave it to Lonnie, because she could."

"For girls only," I muttered, seeing it. "What can it do?" Something occurred to me, how Lonnie had lifted the hand with the jewel on it before. "'Check the perimeter... ' Rath, does it do some kind of distance viewing mojo? Let you see what's going on somewhere that you aren't?" That would do a lot to explain how the evil trio had planned this mission so well, and it explained why Ava had wanted me to interfere. If Lonnie had used the jewel and spotted her as she prepared to enter the bunker...

"That... that's part of it," Rath muttered. "All you're gettin' from me this time... brother." He coughed loudly, and raised his voice. "Lonnie?"

"Umm... yeah, Rath??" She sounded honestly worried. "You gonna be okay??"

"No, I... no, I think I'm not gonna be, Lonnie. Just... don't go out fighting. I think if you swear a truce, these people will let you walk outta here alive today. Make the deal and stick to it, no double crosses. It may not be as good as goin' home, but you can do okay here on Earth. Lot better than being dust, I'm pretty sure ah that."

"No -- no, come ON Rath!!" Lonnie shouted. "If I'm makin' any deal, then it's for both of us, nothin' else. Maxxie boy here can heal you, I know he can."

I looked over at Max in the dim light, who looked uncomfortable and shrugged. He was helping Liz to her feet.

"No, it's too late for me," Rath said, and coughed up something slightly sticky as if he needed to prove his point.

"It's never too late," Lonnie insisted.

"Max, how's Maria?" I asked nervously.

"She'll... she'll be fine. The baby's alright too." Max let out a long breath. "If Nicholas had made up his mind if he wanted to stop her heart or crack her skull, she'd have been dead instantly. As it was, he left both jobs half undone."

Wow... that was worse than I had thought it might be, but at least there had been time for Max to do his thing. And Rath... he could have done something as bad, but he hadn't, and did I want to see him punished for Nicholas' sins too? If he really was dying, then agonizing over the decision was essentially the same as letting him die, but I wasn't sure I wanted both him and Lonnie to walk out of here today.

"Take a look at Rath if you want to, Max," I mumbled, thinking that he was probably undecided enough to take his cue from me. "I might regret it, but I don't... I just don't particularly want him to die if he didn't have to. I'm not sure why.

Max looked doubtful too, but he walked carefully around Kyle and crouched down next to Rath. As soon as he had taken my dupe's hand and looked into his eyes, though, Rath's body started to turn white and fade into crumbly dusty bits, just like Nasedo's had. If he'd been there a little sooner... but maybe this was the way it had to be. I wasn't too choked up about Rath dying, even though he had apparently seen something worthwhile as he was dying.

Liz was untying Kyle and waking him up. I went over to Lonnie. "You heard what he said... I'm sorry for your loss. But if you want to make a deal with us, I suggest you start talking terms."

"Umm... yeah, I'll deal, I'll deal. We go our separate ways, I leave Roswell very quick and you'll never see me again, I promise. No trouble, no payback, nothing."

"How did you bring us here?" Tess asked, her face resolved and a little bit mean. "We'll need wheels to get back into town. If that means you're walking', then tough."

"They've got two cars up above," Ava said. "I came in on a motorcycle."

"That means... that means if Lonnie gets a car, six of us have to squeeze into the other," Liz figured. "Or five into the car, and two on the bike."

"You know," Kyle muttered, "somehow I don't see that happening. Lonnie, you got a problem with walking or hitching a lift?"

"No, I guess not," she muttered.

"And one more thing," I demanded. "The ring. Hand it over." Lonnie slipped it off of her finger, with ill grace, and I slipped it carefully into my own pocket.

----------

After we got out of the silo and sorted out car seating, Liz found out that she was the only one with a working cell phone that was currently getting a signal, and she had a voice mail waiting. It was from Valenti, looking for her, for Kyle and Tess, and mentioning that Hanson had been called in to the scene of the film shoot. One of the guys running the project was in critical care at the hospital.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

(Alex):

"So, this Jonas guy, he's going to be okay?" I asked. The nine of us were all crammed into Michael's living room at this point, getting on for midnight.

"Yeah," Liz replied. "I helped Max sneak into his room and use the healing touch." That got Isabel's attention.

"Handprint?"

"No handprint, Isabel," Max insisted. "I'm learning how to be careful with that, and he wasn't hurt too bad. He shouldn't wake up next year with antennas either, and I didn't fix enough that the doctors would notice that something strange had happened... I think. Just cleaned up a bunch of the internal bleeding, and repaired the worst damage to his heart."

"Sounds good," Kyle put in. "He was a good guy." He sighed. "I'm sorry that it looks like the movie isn't going to happen now, I was looking forward to all of it."

"It's not?" I asked. "Well... yeah, I guess I can see how it'd be hard to continue on right away, but..."

"It's not just that," Tess spoke up. "Trevor's parents got really upset about the attack, even though he got off pretty light with a broken arm and a bit of a nasty laser burn. They're going to be picking up and moving to Flagstaff in about a week. I don't know all the details, but apparently it's an almost sure thing."

"Ahh, I get it," I said. "And Trevor was the one who was really making the movie happen. Well, I'm sorry I guess."

"Enough of the film festival crap," Michael joked. "What's the deal with the two of you?? How... how did you know to come?"

"It was Isabel, of course," I said. "She... well, I'm still not sure how much of it I understand, so maybe you should try telling it again sweetie."

"Umm, okay, though I'm not sure how much I can say." Isabel sighed. "It was just in the middle of television, and at first I was only aware of it in vague terms... very sudden, but vague at the same time... this certain conviction that something important, and more than a little dangerous, was happening to some or all of the six of you. If I concentrated, I could get a few images or impressions... the darkness, the sense of confinement... no, not confinement so much. Restriction."

"Because we were tied up," Michael filled in.

"Yeah. And also some other images that are less clear, like Max's shield shimmering across a room lit by strange blue lights, with bolts of light hitting it from the other side." Isabel made a soft whining sound." Isabel sighed. "The worst part of it was, while we were still in the air, after talking to Hanson and to Valenti, that sensation in the back of my mind just disappeared. I didn't know what had happened, if you guys were dead or somebody was blocking you off, or if what you were going through was bad enough to break up the connection. There were a few scraps of sensation from the fighting, and then before I could even focus on them they were pretty much gone. No sense of 'everything's okay' or anything like that."

"Oh, man, that must have been horrible," Maria said.

"Kind of... at the very least it was incredibly frustrating, not knowing." She turned to smile slightly at me. "Alex pointed out that it was possible if the stress and trauma was creating the subconscious link, the link going away might mean that everything was okay, but I could hardly even bring myself to hope."

"You guys shoulda seen her though, so determined to get back here as soon as possible and save your asses," I put in. "She would probably have tried to steal a plane and fly it herself if that was the only way. But there was this lady pilot at the airport who kinduv took pity on us, even though she didn't understand what Isabel was so upset about or why we had to get to Roswell so quickly. Only charged us four hundred dollars for the trip at the start, and knocked it down to three hundred after we got on the radio with Hanson and he told us what they knew about what had happened in the park."

That started a whole big discussion about the money, Michael wanting to take up a collection to pay Isabel back, and Ava kind of pointing out that it was Isabel's choice to pay the fare. Izzie didn't seem to care that much one way or another, and asked Max if their Dad would be surprised to hear that she was shopping a lot down in Las Cruces.

"So, what's your story Ava?" I asked, trying to change the subject. "I mean, last I heard, you had left Roswell specifically to avoid Rath and Lonnie. Now you've come back, and pretty clearly you knew that they were here, going after Max and the others again. By the way, love the hair."

"Ehh, not sure there's a really big story," Ava muttered. "Been on the road for most of this time... cooled my heels for several months in a bad neighborhood of Norfolk. And, well, maybe three and a half weeks ago, I went back to the Big Apple, just wanted to see the old neighborhood again. Checked carefully, of course, with some mutual friends to make sure that the pair of them weren't around... I finally went down to the lair in the subway, right?? And when I sat down on the couch, I got a monster flash, of Rath and Lonnie talking there, making plans with Nicholas. I got a little freaked when I realized that what I was seeing had been well after the Summit, maybe only a few weeks earlier. Tore up the whole place, trying to get some more flashes, and by the time I was done there, I realized that I needed to head down here and figure out what was going on."

"I know that I could have tried to meet you guys before this, or sent some kind of a warning message, but I knew that they were watching you, and it was hard to tell just how much Lonnie could see or hear when she was using the damn ring. I had the notion that being able to run to the ring unexpectedly might make the difference, so that's why..."

"I think we get the picture," Max replied. "And it seems to have worked out, so thanks again. Umm... have you thought about what you want to do now, Ava?? If you want to leave town that's okay, but I think some of us would like the chance to get to know you a little better, and I don't think you need to run away again for safety reasons. Lonnie will probably stick to her word I think, at least for a little while, and anyway you might be better off here where we can look out for you, rather than out on the road."

Ava blinked. "Yeah, I don't think I'd mind sticking around. But, well..." For the first time since I'd showed up, she looked straight at Tess. "Is there room here in town for a second girl with Tess Harding's face? I mean, wouldn't that attract a bunch of attention to you guys that you'd rather avoid?"

Tess looked a little uncomfortable. "I dunno... I have to admit that I find it weird to have you around, Ava, and I know that you feel the same. But I'm not going to stop you."

"Nobody really knows that much about Tess' past here in Roswell," Isabel mused. "We could probably spin a tale about identical twins who got separated in a messy divorce, or something like that."

And from there we started talking about who would be living where, and possible job leads. When Max offered to ask Brody about a job at the UFO center for Ava, Kyle got interested too and asked Max why he'd never offered that to him. I kinduv get the impression that Kyle's intrigued by Ava - he liked Tess before they decided that they were brother and sister, so an unfamiliar girl who looks like Tess - I guess there's possibilities.

"You know, this is partly your fault," Max joked to Isabel as we were leaving Michael's place.

"What, me??"

"Yeah," Max grinned. "You said that you didn't want hairy alien danger to ruin our Independence Day camping gig... so it happened beforehand. And now, well, maybe Ava would like to come along too."

"Works for me, I guess," Isabel said. "I'm just glad that nobody got killed... err, I mean... well, you know." She blushed. "Nobody that I care about... though I know that sounds a little callous, but..."

"They started this fight," I reminded her. "They would have killed Maria, probably others, if they had to, and Nicholas *liked* the idea of tearing apart Max or Michael's mind. I'm not sorry that he and Rath are dead."

"Yeah," Max said softly. Isabel nodded. "Okay, well, you guys take care, right??"

"We always do, brother." Isabel hugged him, and then we headed off in different directions.

--------------

(Kyle):

"Well, anyway, as soon as we got through the door," Liz said, "well, the first thing I saw was Kyle, with my freakin' lingerie drawer open, just in the middle of picking up SOMETHING... I never figured out what, and it kinda freaked me out for the next two weeks by the way." I chuckled at that. "Had to wash pretty much everything that had been near the top in there, and still it was driving me nuts worrying, but never mind that. Max was standing over next to my desk, and he comes over and says, 'before you jump to any conclusions, you ought to know that we are really... REALLY drunk.'" Everyone laughed.

It took her a little while to finish getting through the story, and I was surprised by quite a lot of it. Had never really heard what Liz and Max talked about while they were walking through the empty streets that night, or the admittedly sad way that the night ended for her.

"Okay," Tess said, getting herself a drink and walking back into the living room. "What next?" I think that hearing the story had been weird for her... part of Max and Liz's love story before she got to Roswell.

"I have an activity idea, actually," Michael said, taking a little packet out of his jeans pocket... it looked like a square of soft cloth, folded and refolded... when he had finished spreading the fabric out, there was a little golden ring with an odd gem attached. It seemed to go from being red to looking like it was yellow, without covering any shades of orange in between... I don't know the right term for it, but the stone was cut in facets that mostly looked like rectangles.

"Oooh, the alien ring of Rath's that you took away from Lonnie before she got sent packing," Tess said. "The gem of Kimball, or whatever."

"Kindarra," Ava finished, an excited look on her face. "What do you have in mind, Michael?"

"I was wondering about testing it a little," Michael admitted. "Rath said that guys couldn't use it, only girls. We have both here, in a decent mix of human-born and hybrids, although if Ava's theories about spreading Antarian DNA are taken in the right light, then nobody in this room is entirely homo sapiens any more. Ava, do you have any direct experience in how to use the ring??"

"Me? No, I picked up a bit of the theory, but Rath and Lonnie never let me near the thing," she said sadly. "I think Rath was worried that I'd take it to Zan and the two of us might use it to get the drop on him. Zan would never have done something like that, and neither would I, back then, but it was the way he thought. And after Zan was dead, well, neither of them had much use for me back then, and they might have thought I'd try to pay them back for what they did to Zan if I got a chance."

"Wait a second," Tess said. "Rath and Lonnie had this thing before Zan died, before they came to Roswell the first time, last November? Where was she keeping it, then? I never saw her wearing a ring, not once."

"She was probably hiding it somewhere under her clothes or something like that, if you want my guess," Ava said. "She wouldn't it want to be obvious enough that you or Max might take an interest, but she wouldn't hide it somewhere that she couldn't guard it twenty-four seven either."

"Okay, erm," Michael muttered, and cleared his throat. "Tess, do you want to take the first try??"

"Umm, sure, if that's all right." Tess looked around back and forth before reaching out and picking up the little gem. "Any idea what I should try to do, Ava??" Hmm -- why hadn't Michael asked Ava to try first, if she knew the theory, I wondered. Maybe he didn't quite trust her that much... though if Ava wanted to use the ring's powers to steal it and run away, the other girls trying it on first probably wouldn't stop that. Maybe he wouldn't let Ava try it at all today.

"Close your eyes and concentrate on a place that you know very well," Ava suggested. "Let your mind blank a little and run energy through the ring. If it works, then you'll see exactly what's happening there at this moment."

"Oh... okay," Tess said, taking a moment before closing her eyes, and cupping the hand with the ring on it so that it was shielded from us by the fingers of her other hand. Still, after maybe thirty seconds, I caught a brief but definite glow of yellow light from it, reflected.

"Oh, my god..." Tess muttered, snapped her eyes open, quickly pulled the ring off, and tossed it gently back onto the same cloth that Michael had wrapped it in.

"Tess, what's wrong?" Maria started, and then jumped a little herself. "Oh, no, you picked somewhere at Kyle's house, right??" Tess was blushing now, and nodded ever so slightly, silent.

"Maria, why did you ask if..." Liz started.

"Well... my mom mentioned that she was going to drop by and visit Kyle's dad," Maria managed to whisper, and I groaned.

"Where... where were they..." I stammered myself, not really wanting to know, and yet unable to ask. Tess wouldn't have pictured my dad's room, I felt sure, so that left, erm...

"Dinner table," Tess said in a really small voice, and then, louder, "Does someone else want to take a turn, please??"

Everybody else had a turn, including Ava in the end. All of the girls could make it work for far seeing, although Liz and Maria seemed to feel that it took quite a bit of effort and energy. (Michael hesitated the first time that Maria volunteered, and he didn't seem to want to let her wear it for long -- I'm not sure what that's about.) No matter how carefully they explained what they had done or how long we tried, neither Michael nor I could get it to do anything for us. The ring was also too big to go on any of Michael's fingers except his pinkie, which was slightly too small for it even when he had the ring jammed on all the way.

"Okay," Michael muttered after Liz had done it the second time, and this time zeroed in not on a place she was familiar with, but a person... she had concentrated on Max and described a room in an office somewhere where Max and Brody were meeting with a short guy in a khaki trench coat. "Now, Rath said that the far-seeing was 'only part of it', presumably talking about what the ring can do, or what its value is. Ava, do you have any idea what the rest of it might be?"

"Umm... not entirely, no," Ava admitted. "Like the Granilith, it's a historical treasure on our planet and has some cultural or social value from that, though not quite as much. But I don't think that's what he was talking about." She paused, deep in thought, for a moment.

We, well, the girls mostly, experimented more with the ring. No luck on the any different tricks, but they worked out a few variants of the far-seeing trick, including just homing in on item. Tess was able to concentrate on a favorite pen that she lost, and see it in somebody's bedroom, but we weren't able to figure out whose or where in town it was. Also, Ava tried doing it without concentrating on anything much, just starting with her awareness in Michael's apartment, then 'looking' down the street and into people's houses, and that seemed to go alright. It didn't seem to work the other way... if you homed in on a distant person or object, you couldn't move away from it, or at least they couldn't figure out how to do it right then.

So Michael put in an old VHS movie from the eighties, and we started arguing about what kind of pizza to order.

------------

(Michael):

"Oh, lord... I should have known," Maria groaned as I slowed down, coming into sight of the Sultan's Hideaway motel.

I smiled to myself. "Wait... wait a second, where are you... Okay buddy, what the fritz is going on here??" I had coasted well past the motel sign, going slowly enough that someone else had caught up to me on the highway and honked her horn, (or his horn,) so I sped up again slightly. In a moment, though, I turned off the highway on the other side... into the parking lot of a small but decent looking restaurant.

"I called ahead," I told her once the car was parked. "They brag about their stuffed cappelloni, so you can try that or check out the menu for yourself." Maria grinned and opened the door... she'd always loved good Italian food. (I think she has some Italian blood in her, from her mother's side.)

Dinner was great. I had some barbecue-rotisserie chicken and fries, and Maria ended up having the double-decker lasagna and loving it, then we both had slices of frosted layer cake for dessert. All through the meal, we chatted about old memories and new gossip and even talked a bit about our dreams and fears about the future.

Once I'd taken care of the restaurant bill, we got back into the car and I drove back down the highway to the motel. Soon we were back in room nine, which I really wanted to be exactly the same as it had been the first time we went to this motel, but alas, no luck. The decor had, unbelievably enough, gotten even cheesier.

Maria sat down on the edge of the bed and shot me a 'well, now what?' look that somehow completely caught me off guard and made me forget everything that I'd carefully memorized. "Um, Maria..." For a second, I thought of trying to improvise an alternative to the whole big speech, but that could lead to unimagined heights of badness. So, erm, cut to the chase I guess. "Will you marry me?"

From the look on her face, Maria had been taken completely by surprise, which I think I appreciated. Smiling foolishly, I stepped forward and got down on one knee in front of her, bringing the alien ring out again. "I know that this isn't something that I spent three months' salary on, but it's a lot better than anything I could afford if I saved up for years, so... will you take it, Maria? Will you have me?" Maria opened her mouth to say something, and in a sudden flurry of panic I cut her off. "Don't answer yet."

Okay, what had I been missing?? I needed to stick a bit more flowery hallmark card stuff in. to show her why I was doing such a kinda crazy thing... asking her to marry me before either of us were out of high school. Somehow the words came naturally. "This isn't just about the baby, my Maria, though that's kind of the reason I made this decision so early. But I... i want to be with you for the rest of my life, Maria... be your best friend, and your lover, and your protector if you need protecting. I don't know where our lives are going to take either of us, but I know I want the two of us to be side by side the whole way."

"Um, uh... okay, I guess that's it. You can answer now."

Maria looked into my eyes, and shook her head -- which for a second I was afraid was meant to convey a 'no', but then I realized it was just an expression of bemused disbelief. "Michael, my Michael... my great big clueless Spaceboy, of course my answer is 'yes'. I don't need the ring and I don't need the big hallmark speeches, though I think I appreciate both. From the first moment you asked, it could only have been 'yes'. Yes, I will marry you, when the time is right, and become your wife. Just try and stop me." She took the ring and put it on the second-to-last finger of her left hand, where it fit just perfectly.

"And, as far as the ring goes, it's a family heirloom and more, right?" I nodded. "Well, a family heirloom ring is *much* better than one that was just bought out of a store, no matter how expensive the one from the store is. Just ask my mom about that, heheh." And then she did a double take. "My mom!!"

"Oh, yeah," I said, sitting down beside Maria and hugging her. "We'll probably have to tell her about everything soon now, so that you can wear the ring without her getting curious. Maybe there'll be time before the long weekend. But... um, well, do you think she'll be any happier about the baby if she knows we're going to get married??"

"Umm... I don't know, I haven't really even thought about that," Maria admitted. "I just meant... we're both engaged at the same time now. Feels a little weird."

"Maybe that's just fate," I muttered. "Well... we've got the room to ourselves, and something to celebrate... erm -- how about it?"

She looked up, grinned, and threw herself at me with a hungry kiss.

----------

"Come on, this way," Mari insisted, leading me through a dark corridor and up one of those old-fashioned winding staircases. "We need to stay well ahead of the creepy horror."

I followed, torn between the way her lithe body moved under that fairly tight silk dress, and the feeling that I should be paying more attention to what she was saying. "The creepy horror??"

"Yes!!"

"Okay, that wasn't as helpful a reply as I'd have hoped for," I muttered under my breath. "What's this horrible thing like??"

"Well, you can't see it... which is part of what makes it so creepy," she explained. We came to the top of the stairs, which was in the open air, at the top of a short castle tower or something like that, maybe twenty-five feet above the ground. Twilight was settling on the grassy hills of the countryside with a vengeance, and the effect was indeed rather creepy. Mari didn't leave me with much of a chance to linger on the view though, for good or for ill, but produced a large silvery key from somewhere inside her outfit, opened a door that led into another hallway, on top of the castle wall. (And more wall was built up on top of it, I think, though it was hard to be sure in the dim light.)

"So, it's invisible??"

"Intangible maybe... it doesn't always have a body, or maybe it doesn't ever have much of one," Maria told me. "But that doesn't slow it down at all when it catches someone. I've seen what was left of a person after it got to them." She shuddered all over, in that particular way which is somehow always distracting. "You can hear it, and feel it in the air when it's near. I... I don't think it's been following us too closely, though it's hard to be sure which way it went. Some foolish young enchanter let it out of the magical Translucent rooms, in which it was imprisoned, deep beneath the castle." She took a deep breath. "Running and hiding won't protect us for long. What hope do we have??"

"Umm..." I thought about that a moment. "Is there maybe a big two-handed elven sword or magic staff that can be used to fight the horror??"

"Not... not that I know of. If you have any skill at wizardry, we might be able to find a magic spell inscribed upon a scroll that can be used to fight it. Or... perhaps a potion or some other artifact, but I know not where such items might be."

"Hmmm, okay. There a library in this castle?" I asked, feeling like I was starting to get into the spirit of things. We had begun to move through an irregular grid of halls and passageways by this point."

"Yes, erm..." Mari took a moment to get her bearings, and set off in a new direction. However, before she'd gone twenty feet she groaned, and I felt a sudden chill in the air that made the muscles of my arm clench slightly. There was a sound in the distance too, or maybe a few sounds... a sustained tone somewhere between a groan and a whine, and an irregular, but awful, bumping. "It is..."

"The horror," I said, grabbing her by the shoulders and helping to pull her back away. We ran off in the other direction together. "Okay, no-go on the library. It'll catch us for sure if we try to get through that way. Umm... any idea what there is this way??"

"The seneschal's sleeping chambers, the kitchen and scullery..." Mari stumbled at that point and shrieked in fear, but before I could get to her she had picked herself up and dashed away. "More than that I remember not."

"Okay..." There was suddenly a long narrow stairway that shot off at an angle to the corridor we'd been using, and I took Mari by the arm and guided her in. We might be able to lose the horror that way, and even if we didn't, we wouldn't lose much time or ground by going this way.

The stairs went a long way, and I couldn't be sure if I was feeling the slight chill of the nameless enemy that was following us, or if it was just the wind of our own swift flight and my imagination. Must be below ground level by now... who the heck builds a castle like this?

All of a sudden, the stairs leveled off into a short landing, blocked off implacably by a thick wooden door, with no handles or keyholes. "How the heck do we get in??" I asked. "The horror's coming up behind us!!"

"Umm... don't yell at me like that, I'm trying to think as best I can," Mari railed. "This must be the master treasure room... an orb of opening perhaps, or a great spell might be necessary to get inside."

"Dammit," I muttered to the people who had built this castle. I don't *want* to break into your treasure room, but it's the only way we can go at this point. Of course, if the Horror can get inside the vault as well, then we were probably doomed, because there wouldn't be another way through. I looked at the door and blurted out, "Silver handprint!!"

The door swung open slightly, and Mari and I hurried in and shut the door behind us as quickly behind us as we could. Then I turned around to see what was in this treasure room... anything that could help us??

There was a giant inverted metal cone, at least thirty feet high, a golden ring with a tiny jewel on it, a short and stumpy crystal wand, and a broken pendant on a leather string. That was it.

"Hey, spaceboy." The words shattered my dream... there was a slight sensation of confusion and disorientation as I opened my eyes in the dim motel room, but the treasure room of the mysterious castle had disappeared instantly. "You with me?"

"I... I am now, I think," I muttered, smiling up at her and wrapping my arms around her body. "Wow, really weird dream." Traced my fingers down her arm, up her hand to gently brush the band of the ring. "This was in the dream, at the very end, I think. And you were there, and the Granilith. We were in a magical castle, running from an invisible killer monster."

"Hmm.... sounds scary," she breathed softly.

"Only a little," I said. "Was kinduv fun actually, not that I'd really want to do it again in real life." Stretched a little. "So, whatcha wanna do now, my love, my promised??"

"Aww..." she said. "Well... I can think of a bunch..." with a lick on the side of my neck, "of fun things that we can do at this point. Problem is..." And she nipped very lightly on my chest, just beneath the right collarbone. "I can't decide which. Wanna help a poor girl out??"

I grinned. "Why don't you keep moving in the same general direction, and I'll let you know when you're in the right vicinity."

---------------

(Max):

The phone rang in the early morning, just as twilight was starting to make itself known outside. I groaned and picked it up, but the groan cut off and a smile came onto my face in the middle of the gesture, as a wildly hopeful thought occurred to me. "Liz?"

"So sorry to disappoint," a dryly British voice cut in. "I just got a call from someone at the bureau. It's going to have to be today. How soon can you be ready?"

"Umm..." I blinked, trying to keep my eyes from wanting to close all on their own. "Err... half an hour?" Yikes, why hadn't I said three quarters?

"Not bad. See you then, Evans."

Oh, boy. Flying saucer hunting should not start this early in the AM. I showered in a few minutes, and took enough time to send off a quick email to Liz letting her know that I'd be off with Brody today. At the UFO center, Brody got into the Jeep, and explained that we'd take my car to the local airport, and then take a sub charter flight over to the larger state airfield.

------------

"I... I wasn't expecting either of you quite so soon," the young uniformed officer said as he led us down a grey corridor. "Actually, erm, Mister Bilson, I left a message on your phone, back in Roswell, saying that maybe you shouldn't bother coming in. Didn't realize that you were probably already on your way... well, since you're here, we can talk for a bit, I suppose."

"Thanks, Lieutenant," Brody replied. (He pronounced it with that 'f' sound in the word, which I'd never really understood except to know that it's "a British thing.") "This is Mike Edwards by the way, one of my best young hotshots." I shook the Lef-tenant's hand politely after he'd opened a door.

Inside was a small table and a few chairs, one of those white-boards that you write in with the dry-erase markers, and very little else. "Okay, so... exactly what does a small-time tabloid rag from Roswell want with the 507th public relations division?"

"Nothing but what you'd expect," Brody replied. "The fifty-fourth anniversary of the crash is this week, and we're... well, as they say, we're just looking for a new angle on the Roswell incident. The air force division that supposedly cleaned up the crash site was under this unit's command. I realize that it's been a long time, but... come on, Give me something."

"There was no Roswell incident," the man in uniform muttered. "You know it and I know it."

"Yes, you know it and I know," Brody replied softly after a moment... "But I'm not going to tell our readers that. Heck, I'd sooner tell my daughter that there's no Father Christmas, you know, even leaving aside for the fact that it's their belief in aliens that pays my meagre wage. This is all off the record, and nobody's going to believe it anyway." He sighed and tried a slightly different tack. "You were stationed in Roswell for more than four years, Jackson. You must have heard some kind of story, something that hasn't seen print yet, maybe??"

"Hidden flying saucers are very hot since this spring," I mentioned, as if it were a casual thought, (at least, I hoped that it sounded casual.) "Area 51 and all of that."

That started off a bit of back-and-forth about the real nature of area 51, but it didn't seem to get us anywhere. After a few flat denials, Jackson seemed to try something a bit more polite to get us out the door.

"On the other hand, there's... umm, no. I'm sorry you came all this way gentlemen. I don't think I have anything. Good luck with the anniversary edition and all."

"Please," I said. "There was something you were about to mention. Can't you even tell us what it was in the most general terms?" I reached out and touched the Lieutenant's fingers with my own, hoping that I might get a flash.

"Erm..." WHAMMP! "Just a rumour, like you said, and not one that I feel particularly like repeating for it to get printed. You have to understand the difficult situation that you've put me in here, gentlemen. Ever since those FBI hearings last fall, command has insisted on strict denials of ANYTHING, erm, alien-related. Some of my people saw you come in, and if any story sees print, they might connect the paper with your arrival, and--"

He was lying. Not about the crackdown on alien-related leaks - that might well be true enough. But whatever he'd been thinking of, and hiding from us, it wasn't a rumour. I had seen, quite clearly, a file cabinet in a dim room, the second drawer from the top open all the way, and someone's hand returning a folder to a position about three-quarters of the way back. It was marked 'operation dinner plate', which seemed a vaguely appropriate, if whimsical, reference to a real alien flying saucer."

I caught Brody's eye, and tried to telegraph my intention as clearly as possible. We had to get to that file before we left here... which meant that I had to, since there was no way to even let Brody know about it. On his own, he thought of asking Jackson for a tour of the offices - he was probably just trying to prolong the visit, in case there was another opportunity. But this would be my only chance.

"The crackpots are going to be disappointed," I said softly as Jackson opened the door. "No tales of hovering dinner plates direct from the man." I was taking a risk saying that much, but it seemed to pay off... he had just opened the door when I said the words 'dinner plate,' and for a second, I saw his eyes dart to the side... probably to a door on the same side of the hallway as this one, back the way we'd come. Jackson was leading us deeper in first, though, and I couldn't sneak away at once. There was nothing to do but tag along and hope that Brody would distract him sufficiently to give me my opening.

He did, sure enough. We were only a few steps further down the hall before the two of them were deep into a discussion about Operation Desert Storm, and Jackson's back was to me. I wasted no time in slipping back silently down the hall... the first door had a small window in it, and was clearly a break room or lunchroom, so I headed over to the next. Locked.

This one had to be it... there were no other alternatives before the hallway twisted at an angle. I used my powers to unlock the door and slip through, re-locking it the old-fashioned way with the little knob on the inside. (Hmm, that seemed a little weird, having a one-way keyhole on a small room like this one. What if someone locked the key inside?? I would think it'd be better to have a deadbolt that couldn't be closed while it was locked, but oh well.)

Yes, that was definitely the file cabinet I'd seen in my flash. In the second drawer, three quarters of the way back, I found 'dinner plate'. (How the heck was I going to explain to Brody how I'd found this so quickly without telling him about flashes?? I could always say that he seemed nervous about something down this corridor, which was true enough, and that I happened on everything else by blind luck...)

"Jack... pot!" I whispered out loud before I could stop myself. The details on the first page of the file were amazing... secret government installation in Salina, Utah, hidden underneath a convenience store. The details were about as dry and clinical as even government records could possibly be, but they talked about how a 'reconstructed extraterrestrial Lander' had been stored there since April of 1973...

There were footsteps in the hallway outside, and I suddenly realized that I couldn't just stand here looking at confidential records. Had to MOVE, and quickly. Grabbed a few sheets of computer letter paper from an opened package on an overhead shelf. Did a quick 'alien Xerox' of the first two pages in the file onto blanks, then dropped the folder back in, attempted to erase any trace of my fingerprints, and bumped the file drawer clumsily closed with an elbow. The two Xeroxed copies were quickly folded into quarters and I stuffed them down my pants.

Was this thing in Utah really what we were looking for? That date seemed somehow unusual. Long after 1947, of course, but the powers that be could have been storing it earlier, or maybe there was another crash that we didn't know about. What I *did* know, though, was that April of 1973 was just after the Apollo mission had ended. Was this thing just a reconstructed piece of an Apollo spacecraft? Or, maybe, had someone been looking at an alien ship to see if it could help them with NASA stuff, and then they were done with it??

By this point, I was back out of the filing room, and went off to sneak back and join Brody and Jackson.

----------

(Maria):

"Oh gawd Maria, I can't believe that you're *engaged*!!"

That was Liz talking, though I don't think at this point I've entirely gotten used to the notion myself. One more thing that I never expected to happen to me, or well, at least not until I was in my mid-twenties. "Yeah. It's pretty though, isn't it??" I stretched out my hand with the ring on it to admire it.

"Yeah, it's pretty. It's also a mysterious alien artifact with unknown and possibly dangerous powers," Liz teased me. "I'm happy for you. Best happiness, girl." And she spread her arms wide to hug me, a gesture that I copied hastily and embraced her. "So... do I get to be the maid of honour??"

"Sure, of course... but we have *no* idea when we're actually getting married," I pointed out. "Probably before the baby arrives... well, I'd tend to think so. Haven't even asked Michael about that part."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

(Maria):

"Hi sweetie," Amy said as she stepped through the front door, and kissed Jim on the cheek. "Hi Maria, Michael..." Stepping into the living room, she paused and sniffed slightly. "How long is it gonna be until dinner?"

"Um, a little over half an hour," Jim said softly. "Lasagne's been in the oven a while, and I just put the pizza in." She smiled faintly... I got my taste for Italian food from my mom, and pizza with lasagne's been a favorite combo since she was little I think. And then, my mom frowned slightly. "Why did you tell me to come over so early?? I mean, I don't mind spending time with all of you, of course, just kind of wondering if there was some sort of..."

"Yeah, mom, we, erm, we kinduv do have an ulterior motive," I blurted out. Michael shot me a look, and I half-shrugged at him. "Um, err..."

"Why don't we all sit down," Jim said, smoothly moving in to try and cover up my flub. "Amy, can I get you a beverage??"

"Yes, err, but I'm not quite sure what," she admitted. "Jim, is this a pink grapefruit juice kind of moment, or more like 'single malt on the rocks'? Or maybe just water... it's a little hard for me to tell when I'm not quite sure what the deal is??" She sat down at one end of the couch.

Jim smiled, just a little awkwardly. "Hmm -- well, how about a fairly light screwdriver??" She thought a bit, and nodded. I gestured that Michael should take the desk chair, and sat at the other end of the couch myself, leaving the spot in between for Mister Valenti. He came back after a few moments, with cokes for Michael and I, and a glass of water for himself. "Okay, err... I guess I'll start. Amy, do you happen to remember... that first time we had dinner, after we met in the school offices and I bumped into you at the Crashdown? What you said about Maria and her friends that night??"

"Umm..." Amy concentrated. "I'm trying to remember, it seems a little familiar but I'm afraid that you're going to have to give me a hint."

"That you felt like you weren't as close with Maria as you used to be, and didn't really understand why Maria and Liz weren't speaking to Alex at the time."

"Okay, yes, I remember now," Amy said, but she still had a very confused look on her face. "Why... why did you bring that up?? That... I mean, that was just everyday teenager stuff, right?? Not something extremely important, but..."

"Not quite, Mom," I put in. "For parents and children to lose touch somewhat as the kids grow up and not completely understand each other, yeah, that's normal. But it wasn't entirely the normal stuff that started happening then, and it definitely wasn't a normal teenager situation that was playing out with Alex at the time." Mom leaned forward slightly so that she could glare at me without Jim getting in the way. "Did... did you ever put together that all of that... that distance, those things I never explained to you, a lot of it started after I met Michael, and Max and Isabel, and started spending more time with them??"

"Umm... well, kind of," she said. "Not that I really realized much about them at the time, but over the next year I realized that you had new friends, and got to meet them, and I just kind of thought that was part of this new thing you were doing, wanting to be more independent." She frowned. "I didn't think that you were doing something with them that you didn't want to tell me about... well, not quite in those terms. Michael, we've had our differences, but I know that you're not a bad young man deep down. And Max and Isabel are... well, come on, I'm starting to get very annoyed and confused at all of this beating around the bush. What exactly are you trying to tell me??"

All three of us, (me, Mister Valenti, and Michael,) exchanged worried looks. We'd all hoped that we could keep my mom from getting impatient like this... so much for wishful thinking. "Okay, I'll tell you," Valenti said. "I want you to try to believe in what I'm going to say, or at least listen with an open mind, and not to overreact once you believe. Above all, please bear in mind that this is information that we've decided to trust you with, and several lives could be ruined if the wrong people get ahold of it." Mom glared at him for a long moment, and then nodded, still looking pretty angry that he was dragging out. "Max, Michael, Isabel, and Tess are, err..."

"We, well, we're not entirely human," Michael said softly, and Amy's head whipped around to stare at him. "Aliens. Hybrids, actually, though things start to get complicated once you mention that. We didn't originate here on Earth, anyway. That's the first out of three things that we have to tell you."

"You, you're... no." Mom shook her head, trying to sort everything out. "Jim said to believe in what he said. Michael, are you asking me the same thing?? You're not... you're not joking with me or... or--"

"We're very serious, mom," I heard myself say in an oddly flat voice.

"Do you want me to show you a few inhuman powers?" Michael asked. "I mean... would that help you accept it?"

"I... I dunno," she whispered. "Go ahead if you think it's a good idea."

Michael shrugged, lifted mister Valenti's glass in mid-air, and started the TV going without the remote. "If you have something that you don't care about, I can try changing its molecules, but..."

"No, let's leave it with those for now," Amy said. "Start telling me your story, the whole truth. Go from the beginning."

Michael took a moment to organize his thoughts, then started to go through the story that was so familiar to me by this point, I paid more attention to my mother's face than his choice of words. Waking up inside the pod, leaving the chamber with Max and Isabel, running away when the Evans found them on the road, getting found by a rancher. Mom asked some question about the details, and prompted Michael for any further details about where they'd come from, and that led him into more and more explanations. After Jim mentioned Pierce, (very vaguely,) and how he'd come to protect our secret, Mom said that she was satisfied and wanted to know what other two things Michael had to tell her

"Okay, I'll say it straight out," I told her. A little voice in my head was urging caution, but I wasn't really listening to it. "I'm pregnant - Michael's the father. We're going to have the baby. And he's asked me to marry him..." I dug the ring out of my pocket and stabbed my finger through it, "...and I said yes. I realize that this isn't really what you wanted for me, but..."

"Ohh, oh -- oh my lord," Mom gasped. "Pregnant... with a partially alien baby?"

"Erm... about quarter Antarian, as near as we can figure out," I muttered lamely.

"I... I can't be here right now," Amy muttered, staggering up from the couch. "DON'T try to stop me," she hissed, turning around to stare at Mister Valenti, who had risen halfway to his feet. "I'm sorry, but I just need some time by myself to come to terms with all of this stuff. I'm not going to call the papers or the army or anyone, but I can't just sit down and have Italian food with the three of you either. And I'll talk to you about all of this later, young lady."

"Oh... okay mom," I muttered. "But just so you remember, we're leaving on the camping trip tomorrow afternoon. Probably the first time that we really are going camping when we say we are."

"Yes, I remember dear." She came back, and I stood back up and we hugged, and she kissed me on the cheek. "I still love you, and I'm doing my best to trust in your judgement. This is just way too much to deal with all at once."

I smirked a little. "Heck, sometime soon I'll tell you how I dealt with the news when Liz first told me... and there wasn't as much of it way back then. Take the time you need."

She nodded. "Jim, I'm really sorry that I have to..."

"It's okay," he told her. "There'll be plenty of leftovers, you can come by and pick some up whenever you like."

My mom grinned. "I think I'll do that... or maybe we can have a little candlelight snack of our own?" Jim smiled too, and nodded. "Thank you... for telling me. I realize my reaction might have been hard on you guys... but I *am* glad that you trusted me with nothing but the truth."

And with that, she left.

For a minute, nobody said anything. The oven timer started to buzz.

"Umm... well, do you guys still want to stay?" Jim asked a little awkwardly.

"Yeah, I could eat," Michael muttered. "Umm... maybe we could call Tess and Kyle, and invite them over? As long as there'll still be leftovers for Miz DeLuca."

Jim smiled. "Yeah, I think that'll be okay. The lasagne's huge, and if we eat all of the pizza, I can whip up another one. There's still grated cheese and sliced toppings in the fridge."

Michael grabbed the phone, I took a seat at the table, and Jim started serving out squares of creamy, cheesy, pasta.

------------

(Kyle):

I rode up to Frazier woods with Tess, Maria, and Michael for the big Fourth of July camping weekend. It was pretty cool once we got there, actually. We got a good site, with some parking, (not a lot, which was why we had to share rides,) and a stretch of riverfront that we shared with one other group, and plenty of space for tents and a fire pit and a portable barbecue grill, a picnic table and all. It wasn't that far from the place that we'd gone for the father and child school trip, but this was a bit more isolated among the patches of forest.

I ended up sharing a tent, once Max went to pick his sister and Alex up from the bus stop. The guys have it lucky, I think - we just have to share with one other, while Liz, Maria, and Ava are all sharing. Isabel and Tess get their own tent for the first night, but then Laurie is supposed to be coming in and sharing with them.

Over dinner, Max made a big introduction for this weird trading game that we're supposed to keep playing all weekend - it's called Haggle, and not only are you trading counters that you can score with, (like playing cards and colored index cards,) but you also start with only a few of the rules that you get scored on, and have to trade with other people to learn more. A few people immediately formed alliances, without making any particular secret about it, like Isabel and Alex, who were off comparing notes in our tent not long after the packages had been handed out. I figured that a little bit more subtlety was called for, so I went out for a walk and by the outhouse on my way back - and sure enough, Tess was waiting around there when I showed up. We do understand each other pretty well after all this time, and came to an agreement with few words spoken out loud. Rather than talk the implications out in detail, we just traded our packages for a little while, and then surreptitiously exchanged back, with notes to each other added inside. I've already started putting together an 'American flag combo.'

First thing the next morning, I woke up to hear feminine voices from the direction of the river shore, and immediately hurried into my suit to go and join in the swim.

--------------

"Umm... I'm glad you decided to come along," I mumbled to Ava, mentally scoring it eight out of ten on the lameness scale. How was it that I could be... well, I thought I was a pretty smooth operator when it came to girls in general. Why did this one chick manage to strip away all of my mojo without even, apparently, trying??

Well... maybe there was the fact that she grew up a punk in Manhattan, of all places. Anybody who's been there and done that could eat small town jocks like me for breakfast. And then, maybe, there was the fact that looking at Ava made my pulse race more than any girl I'd ever tried to put the moves on. That might have something to do with it.

"It's cool," she mumbled casually, flashing me half a smile, and then returning her attention to the middle distance of the path we were hiking along. "This lookout point place seemed interesting. And I didn't really mind an excuse to get out of the entire gang and just spend some one on one time. Umm, with anyone I mean."

Well, that wasn't a bad signal, if not entirely a good one either. "How's living with Michael been so far? And working at the UFO Center?"

"Oh... I haven't forgotten my promise to try and get you a gig there too," she quickly blurted out, and then two very small areas of pinkness showed on her cheeks when I smiled calmly in reply, as she realized that I hadn't been hinting around or nagging about that little detail.

"It's been pretty good, actually, especially the alien museum stuff." She laughed out loud at that. "Been a trip seeing what these guys think about UFOs half the time. As far as Michael... well, he's cool, but I kind of get a weird feeling being around, especially when Maria comes by. I try my best to give them some privacy, you know, but it doesn't always work out. Might try asking Liz if her parents would possibly be okay with me crashing on their couch again. Of course, I don't think they know that I did that the first time I was in Roswell."

"Well, I'm sure that you'll work it out somehow," I said. "I'm glad you decided to stick around town. You know, I didn't even find out anything about the three of you arriving from New York until, well... um, I guess I heard something around thanksgiving, which was a few days before you left, right? When Max was getting ready to attend the Summit."

"Heh?" Ava turned around sharply at that. "But... but Tess was staying with you then, right?? Didn't you wonder about where she'd gone??"

"Not that much," I admitted, looking down at my sneakers. "She left my dad a note, and he just told me that she'd be out of town for a few days or maybe a little more, on... well, he didn't say the words 'alien business' as such. Not sure if I can remember exactly what term he DID use."

"I didn't ask any further... not until I found out that Max was also gone, and that Isabel and Michael were upset that he hadn't told them he would be leaving. That's when I heard the whole deal about the night that you guys came to the center and told them your story." He sighed. "Isabel mentioned that she thought you were still around, but she didn't say any more than that. Not sure if she knew that you were staying with Liz."

"I'm not sure I was, at that point... unless you could the alley out back behind the Crash," Ava admitted. "I was used to bunking down on the street in out of the way places, from the Big Apple. Liz found me the night after Thanksgiving, when she was taking out the trash, and insisted that I come in and get myself cleaned up and fed." She smiled at the kindness that had been shown to her.

"Yeah, that sounds like her," I agreed. "Ooh, okay, I think this is about as close as we can get in the car. I'd better park it, and we can continue on foot."

"Park away." We got out of the car, and I started through a fairly well cleared, but narrow, path through the trees.

"Well, I guess if you hadn't left Roswell the first time," I said after a minute, "you wouldn't have found out about the big Nicholas/Lonnie/Rath team up and been able to come riding in at the last moment and save all our lives... so thanks for that much."

"Well, I'm not sure that your lives were in... Oh, holy shit, I forgot to tell Max or anyone about that part!!"

I jumped slightly, surprised by the slightly contradictory nature of her choice of swear words, not to mention that it was a little unusual being around girls who cursed so freely at all. Waited to see if she would explain further. But she didn't for a long moment, and when Ava realized that I was particularly intent, she mentioned. "Oh, just, umm... I was reminded of something that Rath and Nicholas were trying to put the squeeze on your friends for. Something that it just so happens that I have."

I thought back to that dark afternoon. "The crystal key??"

"Damn, good memory!!"

I smiled. "Always been good remembering things that people have said, for some reason. Okay, so how did YOU get it, and why didn't Rath or Lonnie know it?"

"It's a bit of a long story," she muttered. "Okay, short version - our protector gave it to Zan and told him to be very careful who else he let in on the secret, right before he left. Zan must've had his suspicions about Rath and Lonnie, guess he figured that they weren't above putting their own interests ahead of his, or the good of the group. He told me a little... not enough about how to find it, but I was able to work it out when I was back in New York, about the same time as I found out the terrible twosome had signed on with Nicholas."

"Making it a terrible threesome," I quipped.

"Yeah, totally."

"Alright, well, I guess that's good," I reasoned. "If our guys ever want to duplicate what the bad guys wanted to do - they have the Granilith, and with you, they have the key. Just need to get the book translation done, and they'll be all set."

"Yep," Ava agreed. "So, Kyle..." She trailed off, and looked up me with a self-mocking expression. "Sorry, was just trying to think of something decent to ask. Liz told me some of your story."

"Oh?? I'd be curious to hear what that was," I replied.

"Umm... popular school athlete, she's known you for a few years, hooked up at a fourth of July party, the one and only time Liz has ever had a drink to hear her tell it, and you ran off a senior who was trying to feel her up, and sang 'Love machine' to her in front of your team-mates." I groaned, remembering the retrospective humiliations of that night. "Got very twitchy when Liz started spending more time with Max, the guys from the football team beat Max up, and Liz dumped you."

"You spent a little while trying to figure out what was going on with Max's secret and the rest of the gang, got mixed up in a deadly shootout when they were confronting the head Agent of the FBI Special Unit, and your father accidentally put a bullet into your left lung, tearing the main blood vessel leading from your heart into your lung. Max almost didn't manage to heal you in time to save your life."

I blinked in surprise. "Really? I didn't realize it was that serious... or that time was such a critical factor. Don't really remember anything between hearing the sound of the gunshot and waking up with Max kneeling over me, come to think of it.

"That might have been a hint," Ava pointed out. "Yeah, it was much closer with you than with Liz, say. She was in rough shape, yeah, but she had at least twenty-five seconds to spare." Awkward pause. "Should I continue on?"

"Um, yeah, okay."

"Go away to football camp that summer, come back all Buddhist because you need something new to believe in after your world's been turned upside down, or something like that. And, umm... I guess that's really all of it."

"Okay." There was a silence as we walked on, but this time the quiet seemed a little easier and more... well, I wasn't going to say 'comfortable' because it seems like a cliche, but I can't think of a better word, so yeah. The silence was just slightly comfortable.

Ava told me about some of the other places she's been, and then I realized we were getting close to the hill. It was a pretty steep slope to climb, especially after already having worked up a bit of exercise just walking through the woods, but the view was great. A huge swath of greenery surrounded the peak on all sides, visibly arcing in a kind of a lens or crescent shape. Beyond the woods was rocky desert, the main highway cutting through both to the south, and faraway, a few tiny little buildings - not within Roswell city limits I knew, but just past the edge of town.

"Not a bad set-up," Ava admitted. "You wanna hang here a bit and let it sink in?"

"Sounds really good," I admitted, stealthily casting an admiring glance at Ava's trim body as she admired the actual landscape.

---------------

(Alex):

"Oh, stars above!" The phrase might have been particularly appropriate to the outdoors setting, but wasn't strictly a reference to the night sky visible around their Frazier woods campfire. Amy DeLuca had showed up at our camp just as dinner was being served out, saying that she was ready to learn a bit more about what Maria had gotten herself into, and the truth about these friends of her.

Michael and Maria, with some help from the rest of us, had just finished telling Maria's mother about the most recent evil alien attack, when a powerful Skin and two duplicate hybrids had taken most of the group for hostage... how Ava had helped Michael break free from his bonds: they had killed Nicholas and Rath, and run Lonnie out of town with a warning to never the hell come back to Roswell. Amy had met Ava before this, of course, but she hadn't known the true story of how Tess' 'identical twin' had come to Roswell to stay.

"Yeah, I know," Liz whispered, guessing what was going through her honorary aunt's mind. "It's really scary, especially when stuff like that happens. But..."

"But, for most of you... there's no way to be sure of getting away from the scary stuff," Amy whispered unhappily. "Nobody to call who can help you -- except for a few brave people like Jim who are willing to risk everything for what they believe is right." She turned to Maria. "I... I couldn't understand why you wanted to have anything to do with Michael, when I first found out, never mind... have, having his baby, becoming his wife, when you're so young. I - I think I'm starting to understand it a bit more now. It's not just love, though you certainly have a lot of that, and I hope it'll be strong enough to see you through what lies ahead."

Amy looked around, took a deep breath, and continued. "But... but all of you have been through an incredible experience... an adventure that you're still living. You share a coming of age tale that frankly I'm jealous of, and that suggests that nothing any of us did would be able to tear you apart." She sighed. "I don't think I really want to hear any more alien stories at this point, kids."

"Well, that's okay," Ava pointed out, "because that one was pretty much the last really interesting thing that happened. We'd have to go back further, and face it - that's always more than a bit confusing, skipping back and forth through time. When telling a story, or watching a movie, you know. Whatever."

"How about a few songs, then," Maria suggested. "Campfire songs, before you go back home, Mom."

"Umm... sure, sounds good to me," Amy agreed.

"Can anybody think of any good ones?" Max asked.

"Down by the bay," Kyle immediately sang out, "Where the watermelons grow..."

"Back to my home," Ava joined in, and with some chuckling, the rest of the group started to sing. Michael suggested 'John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt' and Maria taught us a round about working in a chemical factory that she called 'the process man.'

"Alright, one more, and then we go to bed," Isabel suggested. "Anybody think of a good one?"

"I..." Ava spoke up shyly. "I can think of a really good song, but it's not a traditional campfire song. For one thing, it's an instrumental."

Amy DeLuca blinked, but then nodded encouragingly. "Well, this doesn't sound like any kind of night for sticking to tradition very much. What's the song."

"It -- it's called Chasing rain," Ava said, nervous now.

"Yeah, I've heard it," I said. "Might even be able to figure out how to play the line. But that song was written for a huge band with a bunch of fiddles, and a piano, and a tall double bass, and drums and step-dancers... none of which we really have here."

"Oh, psshaw," Maria waved a hand. "First things first... do we have ANY instruments here?"

"Yeah, I've got my acoustic guitar," I admitted. "Thought it might come in handy at some point." Looked over at Isabel after i said that, and she smiled.

"I've got a kind of a whistle flute," Ava put in.

Maria moved sideways a bit on the wooden bench, so that she was sitting just behind another one where they overlapped. "I've got a makeshift drum here." And she hit the wooden surface with the heel of one hand and the back edge of the other, which did create some pretty impressive percussive notes. Tess, who had been sitting near to the part of the bench that Maria was playing drums on, got up and circled round the fire until she found a free spot, sitting down near Mrs. DeLuca.

"Do you know the song close enough to do the rhythm?" I asked Maria, once I had my guitar, and while Ava was still looking for her whistle.

"Umm... I was hoping I could pick it up from you," she said.

"Yeah, I'll try to cue you in," Ava said. "Just remember, the beat is an important part of the song. Above all else... try to think of horses."

"Horses?"

"You'll see... if this works," I assured her. "Okay, Ava... umm, I start?"

"Yeah, please." She held her whistle, but didn't bring it to her mouth, and I started to strum a chord. Quite quickly, the music that I'd heard weeks ago came back strongly to mind, and it wasn't hard to adapt the second fiddles' line to my guitar. (Yes, it sounds a little weird, but the "second fiddle" plays first... at least I think it's appropriate to call it the second fiddle, because the other part is tougher.) There was a long intro for me to play through, with Maria just keeping a fairly traditional drumbeat, and Ava not joining in yet... I smiled, trying to do more than just play the right notes and chords, but project the spirit and essence of the song, conveying the setting... the desert, just like the New Mexico plains lying not far from this wooded vale. The still of desert night, the beauty of desert morning, the beauty of desert morning... calm and still, peaceful.

As his first passage came to an end, Ava took up the 'first fiddle's line on her whistle with flawless timing, and more than a little natural musical flair that I hadn't realized she had. That was the way this entire song worked, the melody shifting from one fiddler to the other, or in our case between the guitar and the whistle, each taking our turns, with the drums supporting both.

This section, the desert mid-morning, was where the horses part began, a group setting out to ride, and Maria began to syncopate her drum beat as I faded back into the supporting, harmonic role. Ava's fingers flew over the whistle stops as she tried to keep up with the dizzyingly fast high melody, of fast galloping and dusty ground falling far behind. I took a turn with the low melody next, and it wasn't static any more, though not quite as dynamic as Ava's passage had been perhaps... desert late morning, a slow, and a brisk walk to recover breath. Perhaps some talking and joking between the riders as they walked alongside their horses, to match the lighthearted melody. And just at the end of the walk, spotting what they were hunting... clouds on the horizon.

We switched back and forth again, several more times... dashing hard through the heat of the day, on Ava's high melody, the horses running so hard and fast that it wasn't even quite a gallop any more, another break for a rest, though not as much of a rest as it had been, still going at a fairly brisk canter, as I took my turn with the low melody again. Galloping hard for a stretch again, as the desert day moved into afternoon, with Ava playing the high melody again, and then she let that fade away, but I didn't start the low melody again, and for a little bit we just played our harmonic lines at the same time. Something new had happened. What was it? I figured that they had come - to the top of a canyon.

Maria kept the beat going, and I started to step out of the harmony, but only a little bit, here and there. Slowly, ever so slowly moving down some kind of trail or narrow path down into the canyon. Walking through the unexpected oasis... letting the horses drink from a river that wounds its way through the valley. This was where the piano line came to the fore, although we didn't have a piano, so-- well, I was taking the piano melody, to start. Walking slowly through the valley, enjoying the beauty of some woods that had grown up there, maybe. After several measures there was a good opening to let Ava take over the piano line, where her whistle could better handle the dizzying climb into higher octaves, just as the horseback party came to the mouth of the valley and saw -- rain, falling only a few miles away!

Back into the low melody again, as the party rode through the desert afternoon towards the storm, and the high melody of victory and celebration, riding right into the downpour itself. Everybody's faces, including those of the three of us who were playing, seemed to be taken by surprise, lost in the wonder of the music. Ava stopped her whistling suddenly, and I was able to remember just in time that this was the way the song ended to not run over the end, but Maria played an extra measure and a half on the drums before clueing in.

"I... I'll see you in a few days, dear," Amy said to Maria, breaking the hushed silence that rolled in over the campsite for a long moment. She got up from her seat and smiled at the assembled company.

"Mom, you, um..." Maria didn't seem to be sure what to say.

"It - it's better this way," Mrs. DeLuca said softly, and melted back into the night, towards the parking lot.

"Let me grab a flash and walk you to your wheels," Michael insisted.

"Umm, alright," Amy's voice agreed, and Michael hurried off to his tent to get a light.

"Yeah, I think that was a good 'note' to say goodbye on," Liz punned. "Anything else would be anticlimatic. Umm, anticlimactic, I mean, with three c's."

"Wait a second, what's the difference?" Kyle asked, as Max got up to get the fire bucket.

"Anticlimatic," Isabel informed him, "would be 'having to do with the opposite of large-scale weather conditions'... or something like that. Maybe 'not having to do with any weather conditions at all.'"

"Well, singing more songs *wouldn't* have to do with any weather conditions," I put in cheekily, "so maybe it's that too."

"No," Ava joked. "If a thunderstorm started, you'd stop singing and dash for cover, right? That makes it slightly climatic."

Liz groaned. "Goodnight, everybody."

As I crawled into the tent, Isabel tackled me with a passionate kiss, then started to change for bed.

----------

(Maria):

"So, how was your shift?" Michael asked me as we climbed into the car.

"Ehh, okay." I sighed. "Max, Brody, and this other guy came in for pie and coffee, and stayed over two and a half hours. Liz's father was sitting with them for some of the time." I shrugged. "Aside from that, nothing really sticks out... it was just busy."

Michael nodded. "Do you have to go back home right away?"

"Yep. Time to face the music."

"Alright, then I'm coming with you," he replied instantly.

"No." I sighed. "No, love, you're not. I know my mother. She appreciates that you were by my side when we first told her... and I do too. And obviously you were there when she came out to the campfire. But this is a conversation that we have to have by ourselves - woman to woman." I leaned over to softly kiss him on the cheek. "Don't worry darling - everything will be okay."

Michael didn't look terribly pleased as he dropped me off, but I waited until he put Bronto in gear and drove away. Mom was waiting exactly where I'd somehow expected her, sitting on her bed propped up with her pillow covering the headboard and her knees lifted slightly, a mug half full of hot chocolate sitting on the end table beside her. I climbed up onto the foot of her bed and crossed my legs into a half-lotus. "So."

She smiled slightly at me. "Do... do you remember the morning that I caught Michael in your bed??"

"Not terribly likely to ever forget anything about that day," I pointed out, and she smiled weakly. "After he left, you told me that you knew your history with men had been a train wreck, and you'd be damned if you let me make the same mistakes."

"Yeah." Mom sighed. "I... I still don't want that. But I think lately I've come to terms with the idea that as much as I want to protect you, I can't make your decisions for you out of fear. And as much as what's going on between you and Michael worries me... there's no particular reason that it can't all work out, and make you very happy and fulfilled for the rest of your life." I blinked in surprise.

"Was... was that you saying that you don't particularly disapprove of our plans?" I asked with an odd cock of my head.

"Wouldn't go quite that far," she grumped. "But... you're really pregnant?" I nodded. "You really mean to have the baby and raise him or her yourselves?" Second's pause, and then I nodded again. "You're engaged, and you both mean to go through with the wedding, for keeps? Death do you part??"

"Umm... yeah, at least, I feel that strongly about it, and though I usually don't like to speak on Michael's behalf, I'm pretty sure that he does too."

"Then what does my approval or disapproval matter?"

"Well..." I took a deep breath. "To pick three things off the top of my head, I want you to be there for my wedding... either to walk me up the aisle or stand by my side as a bride's maid - I haven't quite made up my mind about which, or both." Mom chuckled. "I... I want you to be there when my child is born, and for him or her to never be far from Gabba DeLuca through the years. If... if your disapproval would..."

"No," Mom interrupted. "Never think that. I may be nervous about your choices, but NOTHING will ever make me step away from your life or your family, darling girl." She leaned forwards, her body nearly turning over as she hurried to embrace me. "I still want to do all of that and more." She took a deep breath. "Though... I admit I'm worried that you're going to go far enough away that I won't be able to."

"What... what do you mean?" I asked nervously.

"Well... Michael's heritage," she said ominously. "Come a day, he might have to... to leave, to travel to another planet or something, right? And you... if you really meant what you said about making a marriage work, then you'll be going with him. But... but even if I get the invite, even if it's for your sake, there's no way that I could..."

"Right, I get it. And I think you can relax - none of us are going to be leaving the planet anytime soon." But why did that scene seem so oddly familiar: Michael and I arriving on an alien world together... even making wedding plans there? Was it just because of the stuff that Alex was doing up in Las Cruces, and Max's search for flying saucers, that had me thinking of interstellar journeys.

"By the way, Mom," I said, wanting to change the subject. "Last year, when you were telling me how bad your decisions about men had been... did you ever think that you and Mister Valenti would be getting married??" She looked at me - and started to laugh.

"No, I have to admit that I didn't... and that steps on my point just a little. You can never tell when things are going to work out for the best after all... at least, I really think that they're working out for the best now."

"Yeah," I agreed. "Which is probably why you're not getting any madder at me than this?" She considered, and nodded in agreement. "So... have you had dinner yet?"

"Not really... been nibbling on stuff since the late afternoon."

"Mom!" I sighed. "If you want to still fit into that dress, you need to remember to eat smart. Come on - there are those skim-cheese frozen pizzas in the freezer, and we can chop our own fresh toppings."

"Alright," she agreed, standing up. "I guess you've got to eat smart, too, with the little one to think about." I nodded. "And maybe I'll crumble just a little bacon onto one of the pizzas. As a special treat."

I smiled and followed her towards the kitchen. "So, what was the rest of your weekend like?" she continued.

"Really great," I said. "I loved spending some time with Laurie, and we took a raft down the Frazier valley river and came ashore just outside the edge of the woods where this really small and old-fashioned carnival had set up. Ohh, and some of Alex's friends issued us a challenge for horseback capture-the-flag... that was yesterday, and we totally kicked butt. Liz got the flag, though about half the team had to sacrifice themselves to prepare the way for her..."

"Horseback?" Mom repeated. "You, you didn't get up and ride, I mean..."

"In my fragile condition?" I said, and she chuckled. "Actually, no, I was a bit worried too, even though Michael said it shouldn't be a problem, but I've never been that big a fan of horses. I was on defense, and actually I got killed before the really exciting action, but still I had fun."

"Alright, if you say so."

"And we mentioned the trading game, right? Alex won it, and got this big-screen TV, which Max and Michael found in a place they think Rath and Lonnie were using as their lair. Spoils of war, you know, but he's not sure what he's going to do with it, it's too big to easily pack for Las Cruces..."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

(Liz):

It started early on Saturday afternoon. I had just gotten off a morning shift at the cafe, and was making myself some cheater's pizza for lunch when the phone rang. I left the piece of sandwich meat I was slicing on the table and picked up the cordless in the living room. "Hello?"

"Liz?" It was Maria's voice. "I, umm... I'm glad you were there."

Something in her voice sent chills through my bones. "What... what's wrong, Maria?"

"I... I'm not sure. Maybe it's nothing wrong." Her tone was completely unconvincing, and I just waited, knowing that she would say more. "But... but I'm bleeding 'down there', and not just a little." Her breath caught in a little squeak, and somehow it was that that told me just how worried she was. "What if I'm losing the baby?"

Oh, no. And suddenly, the immensely bad timing of this hit me. Out of everybody who even knew about the alien stuff... Max and Ava were up in Utah this weekend, investigating flying saucer hiding places again with Brody and his weird friend who knew my parents. Michael and Tess had gone down to visit Isabel today. Even Mister Valenti and Maria's mom had left town, going to a trade show thing in Albuquerque. Max had been a little nervous when he realized that they would be leaving us 'unprotected' here in Roswell, and I'd said that he was being silly, that there was nobody waiting to attack us when no friendly aliens were around. I *hadn't* expected a medical emergency like this.

"Okay, um, maybe you should... um, just stay put, and I'll be right over." Not sure what I could do if there was really a problem with the baby other than offer moral support, but that was the least I could do for her. "Did... were you able to leave a message on Max's cell at least? He might not have it on, but he'll be checking every so often."

"Yeah," Maria muttered, but I knew that she was thinking the same thing I was. Even if Max knew what was happening already, could he come back to Roswell in time to make any difference? Utah was so very far away... and Brody wouldn't be happy with aborting their mission in the middle... though he might be more sympathetic if he knew that Maria was in trouble - they'd always had soft spots for each other. "But I haven't been able to reach Michael at all... well, I left a message on Isabel's cell voice mail, but I'm not sure if they'll check that. Can't seem to find where I put Alex's number, and --"

"That's okay," I insisted. "I can try calling him now, or we can call together when I get over there, whichever you prefer. And I've got my own address book, right here." Grabbed it while talking, and stuffed it into my purse, then quickly headed back into the kitchen to quickly put away anything that would get really smelly if it was left out for hours (and, possibly, further hours.)

"Just get over here," Maria said, insistence and gratitude showing equally in her tone. I locked up, rushed downstairs, and borrowed my Dad's car.

Kyle was already at the DeLuca's when I got there, looking about as worried as I felt. Of course - he was the only other member of the gang who was available today... and I suspected that we'd appreciate his presence and support before the day was out. (Little surprised that he got there before I did though.) "Umm, where is she?"

"In the bathroom," Kyle muttered. Eww... I had a mental image of Maria sitting on the can, trying to clean up whatever bloody stuff was coming out of her.... "Giving a refund on her brunch, I think." Ohh. Suddenly my mental patterns tried to switch tracks. Was vomiting a symptom of the kinds of thing that could cause a miscarriage, or did it suggest that something different was going on? Did established health wisdom apply well enough to this case, considering that the baby's father was human? Hmm, probably 'not so much' if it really was a problem with the baby, but yes if it was some other kind of problem, though maybe not entirely... This was already giving me a headache.

I went up to the bathroom door and knocked. "Maria, baby, how are you doing??"

"Umm... not as good as I'd hope," the reply came.

"Do you mind if I come in?"

Pause. "No, actually I think I'd appreciate it. Think... think I might need some help in here." There was a sound in the middle there that might have been a sob or a gasp. I tried to brace myself and then went in. Maria was more or less on all fours, her head pointed towards the toilet, but not at a level where she could actually spew out into the bowl. Then it occurred to me was that something was wrong with Maria's right arm. I hurried over and realized that her forearm was pointed at an angle in the wrong place.

"How... how did that happen?" I asked, feeling like I wanted to cry myself, and might not be able to stop myself.

"I... I'm not really sure," Maria admitted. "Just kind of brushed my arm against the tub, and there was a nasty cracking sound." Okay, that was definitely not normal, which made it sound, according to my earlier logic, like there was definitely something wrong with the baby. "Could you help hold me up? I really need to barf again, and it hurts too much to stay propped up on my elbow..."

"Sure, of course." I took as firm a hold of Maria's shoulders as I could and held her in place while she vomited. "This... this might sound like a stupid question, but what about going to the emergency room."

"Not... not on your life, or mine," she muttered after wiping her mouth with her hand. "Between the baby being - you know, and my arm... there'd be way too much chance of awkward questions, and test results coming up off the charts, and suspicion falling on Michael and all the others again. I'm not... not going to start that entire thing up again. Not - not even if that means losing... losing my..." She couldn't quite bring herself to finish the phrase - I'm not sure if I could have said it either.

"And -- what if it means *you* dying, Mar?" I asked softly. "It could come to that."

Maria took a deep breath, and started to turn around. I helped her sit up on the edge of the bathtub with me. "I... I don't know. I'm not going to save my life at the cost of ruining four lives... or more. Just not gonna happen."

I sighed. "Okay. You alright for now, except for the arm?" She shrugged slightly. Yeah, it was stupid to put it like that. 'Alright' was nowhere within sight right now. But she didn't seem to need my direct support. I headed back out of the bathroom. "Okay, Kyle, you're on the phone. Need you to get in touch with as many people in the gang as you can - directly if possible, if not, leaving a message, just saying that Maria is in trouble and to call back here. Guess you should check for messages between calls after a bit. My address book is in my purse if it'll help."

"Umm... okay. What're you doing Liz?"

"Hitting the web for research." It was a good thing, I decided, that Maria's mom had gotten DSL a little while ago, so that I didn't have to keep Kyle off of the land phone line to get on the net. A lot of the websites I found talking about miscarriages didn't seem to have any terribly useful information for the moment, though I book marked a few of them about finding closure... just in case that was what Maria ended up needing.

The first time I left the computer to check in on Maria, Kyle held out the cordless phone for me. "It's Max, on Ava's cell," he explained. "Yeah, Liz here," I said into the mouthpiece. Somehow hello seemed badly out of place - not sure if I can explain that part.

"Kyle told me the basics," Max's voice said, trembling with worry. "Do... if we really hurry, and get Brody and Mister Elson suspicious... we can be back in Roswell in around four hours. Do you think it's worth it??"

I froze, and took a gut check. There... as much as I hated to say it, there didn't seem to be much chance that the baby would survive that long, unless it was going to be okay by itself. But there was a slim chance that Max's presence, even on that timeline, might make the difference, and an equal or better shot that he'd be able to save Maria from some kind of complications. Weighing even a fraction of those lives against a relatively low level of inconvenience and suspicion... "Yes. Get to Maria's house as soon as you can - unless we reach you en route and say we'll be somewhere else."

"Alright."

I headed into the bathroom. "Maria, how're you doing? Max... Max is on the line, and he'll be here in a few hours. All you need to do is hold on." I gasped. Maria didn't look like she was hanging on especially well... her face looked very pale and a little pasty. "Umm, I gotta keep the line free, Max - don't think we've reached Michael yet."

"Got it. See you girls soon," Max promised, and hung up.

I poked my head out of the bathroom long enough to toss the telephone back to Kyle, and faced Maria. "How... how are you feeling babe?"

"Umm... a little dizzy, and cold." She sighed. "And a little thirsty."

"Want me to get you some juice?"

"Yeah." So I rushed down to the kitchen, poured out some orange juice... and on a madly impulsive note, mixed about a quarter teaspoon full of Tabasco into it. Maybe if whatever was going wrong was alien... it would help.

Maria didn't complain or even seem to notice the spicy taste in her juice, and drinking it did seem to improve her color.

I... I'm not going to describe the nitty-gritty of that afternoon to you. Kyle reached Michael a few minutes later, and we put him on with Maria of course... I hung around outside the bathroom door, near enough that I could hear if she called but far enough away to let her feel a little privacy... the parts of that conversation that I couldn't help hearing broke my heart, though. A little while after she finally hung up with him, it was absolutely clear that the baby was... lost. (Well, not lost as in misplaced.) After that, things seemed to quickly improve on a merely physical level, though all of us were obviously so emotionally wrecked that it was hard to even care. Maria's cramps and nausea eased off, and the bleeding didn't last much longer. Even her arm seemed to fix itself - I noticed about half an hour later that the swelling seemed to have gone down inside the makeshift sling-splint Kyle and I had managed to put together. The arm had set itself in a matter of minutes, and perfectly straight too, though it still seemed very tender. Max would have to check it carefully when he got here, of course, but the news was encouraging.

Kyle and I put together some dinner, and we kinduv did our best to act like we had just gotten together for the day out of a lack of anything better to do, instead of what had really happened, because it was too awful to speak of or even dance around, though we weren't able to come up with a great simulation of being normal either. Maria's mom finally returned the messages that she'd left with him and Mister Valenti, and that started Maria off crying again, as she broke the news to her mother. That had to be especially tough. I know that Mrs. DeLuca hadn't been wild about Maria having a baby, but for her to *not* have the baby in this way, to know that her first grandchild had been stillborn so very young... that had to be a heartbreaker.

Suddenly friends converged on us from both sides as it were - Max and Ava arrived, driving straight in from the hospital, at the same time as 'the Brontosaurus' came driving up the road straight from the Las Cruces Road...carrying not only Michael and Tess, but Isabel, who had decided that she would come to lend what emotional support she could. Alex wanted to be here for Maria, but couldn't afford to ditch the next few days at the project, Isabel had said, but she could either go back tomorrow afternoon or blow off her Sunday classes. It was a supportive love fest to such an extent that Maria felt more than a little overwhelmed by the attention, I think, especially since she wasn't sure what to suggest for ways that most of them could help. I decided to step in.

"Okay, Doctor Max... I'm afraid it's down to you." He gulped. "Check her out totally, paying attention to the arm and everything, else, not just... you know, her plumbing down there. Biggest consideration... may be trying to make sure that she can go in for an exam at the hospital without anything giving away how unusual her pregnancy really was."

"Alright. Umm... use your bedroom Maria?" Max said awkwardly. She nodded, and the two of them went away. Michael came over and gave me a big hug, which somehow seemed perfectly appropriate. He was still worried about Maria and devastated about their loss, and I was still shaky from what I'd been through all day and would have appreciated Max's emotional support, except that he had special skills that were more in demand at the moment.

They watched a bit more TV, and Ava went off to pick up some pizzas quick from the place down the road, and Max called me in to consult with his examination, since I'd been spending so much of the day researching. "Basically... she's in fairly good condition... there's some of the amniotic fluid and stuff inside... inside her that should be cleaned out - but would the doctors be suspicious if that was done before she got there?"

I thought about it. "Umm... no, I don't think so. From what I've figured out... a D&C - that's basically what you're talking about doing, isn't necessary in all situations... so maybe they'd just think that Maria - umm, hadn't retained much, or whatever." Maria, lying on her bed, made a face at me, and I shrugged. "Try and leave a little, if you can without having it be stuff that would be a giveaway if it got tested."

"Yeah, well..." Max sighed. "In any event, I... I think that Maria's got some alien hormones in her blood at the moment. She can't go into the hospital until they clear - should be forty-eight hours."

"Oh, okay." I sighed. "I... I didn't realize that was happening - did you know about it before now?"

"Didn't think to look for it last time," he admitted. "But it makes sense... in terms of being able to feed and support a partially alien baby. Guess when she and Michael did the deed, it managed to cover the bases enough to handle this... or maybe the hormones were coming directly from the baby, coming back through the umbilical whatever."

"Okay. Umm... do I need to stay here?" I asked, a little uncomfortably.

"No," Max assured me.

"But, if you go back out there... can you ask the guys about something?" Maria asked.

"Yeah, sure. Of course."

"I... I want to bury my daughter tonight. Someplace... well, someplace that nobody's likely to discover anything unusual, but... maybe out in the desert near the pod chamber. Or in Frazier woods."

"Of course." I turned away, and then asked. "Are you sure it was a girl?"

"Yeah," Max said softly. Oh, boy. "Alright. I'm sure everyone will want to come."

And they did... though it was a somber kind of consensus, as you might imagine. Pizza was had... the three of us who'd already eaten weren't very hungry, but everybody else had been too busy racing home to eat in hours. Before we were all ready to head out, Amy and Jim showed up, and decided to come along.

Max, Kyle, and Jim dug the grave in the woods, near the edge of the Indian reservation. No marker, but Maria spoke a name while we all stood round; as she bent down to run her fingers over the packed earth. "Keva Jane DeLuca Guerin. You were a blessing to my heart and were taken back home too soon. Rest in peace and love."

And what else can I add to that??

-------------

(Michael):

After the... after the funeral, Max pulled off at my apartment to let me out, and Maria got out of her seat too. Maria's mom was in the shotgun seat, and I think she was about to protest for a moment, before maybe deciding that the two of us really needed to be together after suffering a loss like this. The baby's death had hit Amy hard too - she hadn't been that wild about finding out that Maria would have a baby so young... or that the kid would be quarter alien and half me, but she was absolutely devastated to lose a granddaughter so early, I think, and knew that Maria would be feeling the grief even more. I hurried back around the Jeep, wanting to take the woman I loved in my arms as soon as I could - for both of our sakes. Max didn't drive away until we'd made it, walking slowly and together, through the door of my building.

We lay down, arms still around each other, as soon as we got into the apartment. After a few minutes, Maria started to cry, and rage and sob, and that kind of got me weeping too, though I'm not usually the weepy type. (Us tough guys get an exemption under circumstances like the death of a baby, right?? Well, it doesn't really matter if I get exempted or not - I'm not ashamed of the tears that I shed that night, or later, thinking about little Keva.) After a bit, I got up, feeling a little bit useless and hoping that by fetching stuff for Maria and doing other practical stuff I could make myself less awkward. First thing I did was draw her a glass of cold water from the filtration pitcher in the fridge - she thanked me for it, but didn't drink any right away. Offered to cook, but she said that she didn't feel hungry, and that made sense - we'd all eaten at her mom's place. So, after making sure that there were facial tissues and her makeup stuff nearby in the bedroom, and that all of the phones were turned off, I came back and sat beside her, feeling that that was where she needed me to be, no matter how uncomfortable it made me feel.

"I... I wish that I'd had a little more time with her," Maria blurted out suddenly. "However much I could have gotten... a few weeks, a few months. Long enough for her to be born, or whatever. Does that make any sense?" She thought about it for a moment. "Maybe... maybe if I'd had her for longer, I'd just have grown to love her more, and it would have been even harder to deal with her death."

"Yeah, that's possible," I admitted. "But I do understand how you feel." Took a deep breath. "Another possible way in which you could say that it's better this way is that it's less suspicious. No -- nobody outside our group really even knows that you were ever pregnant, and that means that nobody will be asking questions about how you lost the baby." Maria breathed. "I... I shouldn't have actually said that - it sounded way too callous."

"No, no it didn't." Maria reached up and kissed me on the cheek. "It's true, and you hoped that it might make me feel better, and I love you for saying it." Pause. "Even if it really doesn't seem to help that much." She considered. "Did I tell you that Liz was asking about possibly going to the hospital?"

"Yeah, you mentioned that," I assured her. "When I called from the university."

"Oh, right." Maria sighed. That had been a long, incredibly emotional conversation, and if you don't mind I don't really feel like revisiting it any more than I have to.

"Do... do you wish that you had gone, now?" She'd told me some of her reasons why not, and I couldn't argue with them... basically that if the doctors had found anything unusual or alien about her pregnancy or the baby, it would have been putting multiple lives at risk, in order to have a chance of saving one - or two, if Maria herself had been at risk. But it made sense that she might have changed her mind now that things had played out.

"Not... not really." She sighed. "Especially because, from what Liz told me about her research, and the way the timing worked out - well, it seems pretty likely that it was too late for anything they could have done at the hospital to help by the time I realized that anything really was wrong." Pause. "Might have even been too late for Max to save her, though that's a little less sure."

"Okay." I nodded.

"Do... do you know what Isabel's going to do? I... I'm kind of touched that she came back, but I'm not sure if there's anything she can really help with, and I'm worried about where she's going to sleep tonight. Like that other time, her parents would be very curious if they knew that she'd come back to Roswell so unexpectedly - and I don't think it's a good idea if the Evanses hear too much about what happened to me."

"I... I don't think that you need to worry about Isabel," I said. "She probably thinks it was worth the trip just to see for her own eyes that you're doing alright and report back to Alex... and to have been here for the funeral." I thought about that. "Maybe your mom will let her crash over there."

"Yeah, maybe I guess," she agreed. Talking about crashing must have suddenly reminded her about the obvious. "Ohh - what about Ava?"

I smiled slightly. "What... don't you want her to come back here?"

"Umm... no, I didn't say that," Maria protested. "Just... just that I hadn't thought about her... and I'm actually not sure why she hasn't shown up already. Wasn't she in Mister Valenti's car, right behind us when Max dropped us off??"

"Umm... actually, I kind of think that Ava might have gotten the notion that it was better to stay away and give us our space." I waited for Maria's reaction to that.

"Hmm, well, she didn't really need to do that, but I'm not sure that it's worth the trouble of tracking down where she ended up anyway." Maria looked over at me. "Actually, come to think of it... though I normally love being alone with you, I think that maybe tonight does call for a little more company and reassurance." I nodded approvingly, wondering if she would say something else. "Maybe... maybe we could call Liz over?"

I thought about that... in fact, it seemed a little surprising that I hadn't thought of it earlier. "Maybe, yeah. On the other hand... well, she was at your side all the way through it. She probably wouldn't say no to you - but maybe she needs some time to decompress and recover from the shock herself... some time alone with her own sweetie??"

Maria nodded. "Yeah, I hadn't thought of things that way. You're right. And I don't need anybody but you, fiancée." She crawled over, leaning her head down against my chest, and then stiffened slightly. "Are... are we okay, the two of us? I mean... well, this may sound weird, but when you gave me this ring..."

"When I gave you the ring, you were pregnant, but I didn't just do it BECAUSE you were pregnant," I pointed out. "I love you - I still want to marry you - though I'm not sure when and there might be a little bit less of a rush now." She giggled. "As far as the two of us being okay... I can't speak for the future, but I think the two of us, and our relationship, are as okay as we could be, the end of a day like this. Maybe going through this together will even make us tighter." I sighed. "Don't worry about it, my beautiful songbird. Love will see us through. I think the two of us will be side by side for a long time yet." Now, why did that ring a faint bell in my memory??

Almost as if she sensed some odd connection too, Maria sat up suddenly. "I... I realize that this might be jumping the gun in a bunch of ways, but I just wanted to blurt it out to give you a chance to get used to the idea." But she didn't blurt right away.

"Come in, if you're going to blurt then blurt," I teased her, tickling her chin softly, which made her nearly explode into giggles. Blurt is kinduv a funny word when you repeat it this many times, isn't it? Blurt blurt blurt blurt blurt... okay I'll stop now.

"Alright." Maria sighed and looked very intently and straight into my eyes. By now I knew this meant that she really had to psych herself up into what she was about to say. "I... I want to go to your home planet. Obviously not right now, because we've got things keeping us here on Earth, and don't even know *how* to travel to another world. But... but I want to have another baby, with you, at some point... and before we do that, we kinduv need to figure out what went wrong this time, and where you came from is the best place I can think of to figure out those answers. More than that... I want to learn more about your roots, spaceboy. We've found out some about your human side, through Laurie and her stories about her Grandpa, but you have an alien side too, and in a way that one is more critical, because if the aliens hadn't started the ball rolling you wouldn't have even had a human side. I want to know as much as I can about where you came from, so I want to actually go there."

I smiled. It had almost broken my heart to hear the passion in her words. "I... I think I'd love to go there with you too, darling." Reached out to cup my hand around the side of her face. "But... but I'm also scared - scared that my 'home' isn't a safe place for either of us to be, especially you. I couldn't bear it if I took you away with me and something happened to you... and yes, even before you say it, I know that there's nowhere that's completely safe. You can get in trouble just going to your mom's office to pick up some mail for her. But other worlds are a completely different kind of thing."

"Yeah, yeah they are," Maria admitted. "And I'm totally on board with avoiding danger. Just wanted to tell you that I wanted this."

"Then you're possibly the gutsiest one in the gang," I told her. "I'm not sure I've ever admitted that I wanted to leave out loud before this... though I've certainly thought about it. And nobody else has, either."

"Not even Tess?" Maria asked. I thought about it, and shrugged.

"Not to me, I think. Guess that doesn't cover everything." I stretched a little. The tension was starting to leave my body, leaving me incredibly tired. "And of course there was Rath and Lonnie, who made no secret of wanting to go back, but they definitely don't qualify as 'in the gang.'"

"I should think not," Maria said, cuddling up against me. She sighed, and then said, "I'm probably going to be a wreck. Do you think Mister and Missus Parker will give me a few days off without my having to tell them much about the reasons why?"

"Probably," I replied. "Especially since Liz and Tess will probably volunteer to help pick up the slack, if they know you need them."

"Yeah, that's a good poi--" she mumbled, and then, as far as I could tell, actually fell asleep without completing the word.

I lay there for a little while, holding her in my arm, and eventually drifted off into a murky dreamland myself.

----------

Somehow we both managed to wake up crying and sobbing, holding each other... the fact of what and who had been lost coming fresh with the departure of sleep. I called into the diner to see if I could get off work - Liz answered, and assured me that she'd find a replacement and that I shouldn't worry about coming in for a few days. So I stayed home, and when my own tears had run out again, I did everything that I could think of to comfort Maria... well, everything that seemed like a good idea anyway, and not, for instance, making light of what she was going through, which did occur to me, but well anyway.

Eventually she managed to find her own kind of shaky emotional equilibrium, and called in to her mother, just to reassure her that she was okay and was still over at my place. When she hung up... her side of the conversation after announcing those things hadn't had much to it, just long periods of listening and making those kinds of 'yeah', 'I see' noises that you do when somebody else is telling you something over the phone... well, she looked up at me, and I asked what her mom had been saying.

"She... she seems really fixed on the idea of getting us all moved into Tess' old house soon," she said softly.

I considered that a moment. "Well... we guessed that that was coming, right?? All of the work has been done, pretty much, and the sooner she and Mister Valenti can get their old houses on the market, kinduv the better." Once I had said it, I realized how that must sound. One of those 'old houses' was the place that Maria had grown up... the only place that she had memories of her Dad from, maybe. "Err, umm..." Wasn't quite sure how to moderate that flub.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Maria said, not having seemed to even notice that. "But... but it's more than just a practical decision that she's brought it up *now*. With her, it couldn't be. I... I feel like she wants me to make this huge break to help put the past behind me... and I'm not sure I'm ready to put it behind me yet."

"Well, that's understandable," I said. There was a longish pause, in which I started staring at the phone, a very basic and second-hand cordless unit, that was still in Maria's hand. Suddenly something hit me. "I - I need to tell Laurie about this!"

"Hmm?" Maria took only an instant to catch up. "Ohmigawd, yes. She hasn't known that she was going to be an aunt, or get a new aunt, or a cousin or whatever, for very long --" I couldn't help but snicker at the usual ambiguity about my relationship to Laurie expressed in an unusual way. "But she needs to know that it's not going to happen for a lot longer than we thought." She considered. "I wanna be on the line with her too. Just hearing Laurie's voice is always good for me."

"Okay, umm..." I considered that. "I'll dial from the rotary, and then you can come on with the cordless when she's picked up?" Maria nodded, and followed me partway as I went into the bedroom, got out the even more old-fashioned phone extension, and checked to make sure that it still had a dial tone. As I worked the rotary dial, it occurred to me that this was perhaps the first time that I'd called Laurie without having to get the number from out of the address book - which book Maria had got me as a stocking stuffer for Christmas, since I would never have bought an address book for myself. Somehow I didn't have any problems remembering the number right now though.

"Umm, yeah, hello?" a familiar voice said, picking up after four and a half rings.

"Hi, Laurie, it's Michael. Maria's here too, she should be picking up in a moment."

"Oh, so two of my favorite people in the whole world!" Laurie gushed with a playful tone in her voice. "Hi Maria."

"Hey Laurie," Maria's voice came, both through the phone earpiece, and faintly through the door of my bedroom. That second component of the sound was receding - she was probably heading for the couch in front of the TV.

"How's it going?" Laurie continued brightly. Obviously she hadn't picked up on our subdued moods yet.

"Umm... not so good, Laurie," Maria replied. I think that she was about to start saying something else, but her breath caught and she didn't get any further.

So it looked like breaking the news was all up to me. "Laurie, yesterday... I have to tell you -- Umm, we lost the baby."

There was a long moment as Laurie tried to come to terms with that. "Oh, my god. That... I, I'm so sorry guys. Maria - are *you* okay? I mean, obviously you're not okay about the fact that your baby... I mean, physically, is there any..."

"No, we think that I'll be fine," Maria told her. "I'm going to go for a checkout at the hospital probably tomorrow evening to make sure." She sighed. "And -- and thanks for your sympathies, Laurie. I know that they probably don't sound like much helpful, but just to know that somebody loves me and cares about our loss... every little bit helps."

"After... after your hospital trip, do you have any plans for the next few days?" Laurie asked.

"Umm... no, I don't think so really," I said, wondering what she was leading up to. "There's some talk of Maria's family and the Valentis moving in together, but..."

"Right - the nice Sheriff's getting married," Laurie said, and laughed softly. "Well... I was going to suggest that you guys should come back to Tucson and visit with me again. After all, you guys played host last time, kind of... and I thought that maybe you could stand to get out of Roswell."

Wow. The notion of heading off to Arizona again was instantly and powerfully compelling to me... but I didn't want to say too much without getting Maria's reaction first. "Oh gosh, I'd love to!" Maria squealed slightly. "Michael, would you love to head up to Tucson??" Well, I guess that answered the question of Maria's reaction.

"That would rock," I said, and Maria and Laurie both giggled at my phrasing. It was probably a classic Michael-ism, or something like that.

"But... well, I'll have to ask my Mom for permission this time I guess," Maria said, "and clear things with the Parkers at the cafe so that all of our shifts get covered."

"Alright, just let me know," Laurie said.

------------

(Max):

"So, how are you doing?" I asked Liz as we tucked into our burgers. (Well not quite *as* we ate, as that would involve talking with my mouth full, which I try not to do, and I didn't do it this time.)

"Umm, pretty g... w-- better," she finally settled on. "I want to pay a visit to Maria today or tomorrow. I feel bad, like I was avoiding her today. It's just..."

"Yesterday was horrible for you too," I pointed out in a low voice. "And you needed to recover, to come to terms with your own reaction and some of your grief, the fear you felt for Maria's sake, before you could go to her as the consoler and 'comfortadore'. I think Maria would understand that."

Liz smiled back. "Yeah, that's a good point I guess. I was more scared for her than I let myself realize... but maybe we should talk about that later." She ate a few fries and cutely considered. "How far did things get in Utah?" After a second, as I tried to think of a reply, Liz's face clearly registered that she had stepped from one secretive subject into an even worse one.

But what the heck - nobody was close enough to hear us if we talked in low voices, carefully. "We've figured out the facility location, pretty certainly. A convenience store out in the boonies, along a fairly nondescript stretch of county road."

"WHAT?" Liz asked, intently but keeping her volume still fairly low. "A convenience store?"

"Yep," Max agreed. "It makes some sense if you think about it. The government needs to set up a top-secret hangar storage facility. Underground is the best way of hiding the main bulk of the building, but they need an access point on the surface - one that won't seem too suspicious even if people are accidentally spotted going in and out."

"Okay," Liz said, spotting the point. "So they need a building with some sort of other function - a store."

"Feds build it, find a tenant going through a third party," Max agreed. "The store operator gets a location at a discount rate, and fairly good if infrequent business from travelers who need to stock up on anything before they get to the town, or the service centres on the main highway. And there'd be ways of encouraging the clerks to make sure to call the right authorities in case anything suspicious happens, without getting them asking too many questions."

"Have... have you actually been inside the store?" Liz asked. "Have you figured out where the hangar access would be?"

"There's a false wall with a rack of chips pushed up against it," I said, a kind of muted excitement growing. "They must not need to go down there very often anymore, if that's it." I sighed. "We haven't figured out how we're going to get past the security yet. Brody's friend was actually proposing an armed robbery at one point, but that idea didn't last long, especially when we found out that the County DA is up for re-election in November, and probably likely to go for the throats of any criminals that happen to fall in his lap."

"Good," Liz said. "That you didn't pursue the robbery idea, I mean. That sounds so dangerous, and there has to be some better way."

I smiled. "Fortunately, I don't think Brody is in the mood to push hard for an impulsive plan. We've got some time." I looked down at my plate and realized that I had to eat more and talk less. "So, umm... did you hear about..." I couldn't think of any way to finish that sentence, so I just stopped trying and took a big bite of burger.

"Michael said that he and Maria are going out to Arizona to see Laurie," Liz filled in, smiling. I jumped a little at the thought. "I think it'll be good for them. And Amy wants to move in with the Valentis... or for everybody to start moving into Tess' old place, really..."

--------------

(Alex):

It wasn't too long before the bus pulled up to the arrivals platform he had been watching, and I hung back a little, not wanting to look foolish if the person that I was waiting for wasn't on it after all. But I tossed the coffee into a garbage can as the first passengers climbed down the stairs - one way or another I wouldn't be needing it any more. It took me a while to recognize the drawn face of a girl who got out near the end of the procession... she was pale and looked about as tired as I felt, (not too surprising if she'd been trying to get any sleep on the bus,) her long golden hair was put up in a simple style that managed to completely hide its essential beauty, and she was wearing a baggy, shapeless jacket that I didn't recognize. But when those deep brown eyes locked on me in shock, her face, still a little sallow and exhausted, lit up in joy, and I rushed forward to hug Isabel. "What... what are you doing here?" she blurted out after kissing me a warm hello, and then seemed to feel that the answer to that was too obvious to wait for without adding a clarification. "I mean... I didn't even call to tell you that I'd be coming back by bus, never mind *which* bus."

"I figured that you wouldn't want to hit somebody up for long distance," I explained, sticking my hand into her back jeans pocket in a giddy sense of liberty. My hand was right on her butt, practically! In public, no less. I tried to calm down slightly as we walked over towards the city bus that would take us back to campus. "And you guys were out of here so quickly that you left your purse in my room... including your cell phone and your wallet. So I wasn't really expecting a call, don't worry about that." Isabel stuck her own hand in my back pocket, which was thrilling in a slightly different way.

"And you... just figured that I'd take the last bus home today?"

"It was a possibility that seemed worth checking out," I answered carefully.

Something about the way I phrased that must have set off alarm bells. "Alex -- you didn't hang around the bus station ever since -- umm, since one o'clock this afternoon. Did you??"

Smiled. "No, that would have meant blowing off most of today's session with Luis and the guys -- and that would kind of defeat the point of staying in Las Cruces after all." The bus was already waiting, and we had to separate to climb up into it and pay our fares. Ended up sitting side by side near the back... every tiny little bit of contact with Isabel seemed to put an unusually intense thrill through me - like our thighs side by side, or the casual way she rested her hand on my leg, not far from the knee. "But I cannot tell a lie - I was here when the 7:25 came in, yeah. Went to the cinema across the street, even though they were nearly an hour into the show."

"Okay," Isabel said. "Well, it was very nice to see you when I did, so I guess I'm glad you came. How was the session today?"

"Later," I blurted out, before thinking about it. Isabel's eyes widened slightly. "What's the deal with Maria?"

"Oh, my god, I guess I forgot that probably nobody called to tell you." Isabel sighed. "Maria is... she's gonna be alright. Nothing seriously wrong with her," she said quickly. "But..." She leaned forward, her lips coming close to my big awkward ears. "Alex, she lost the baby."

"R-right." I wasn't hit especially hard by the notion... that had been sounding increasingly likely when Michael, Tess, and Isabel left yesterday, and from the look on Isabel's face when she showed up I knew that it hadn't all turned out to be sunshine and fluffy kitty cats. "She... she must be devastated. I know that she loved that little kid so much... no matter how young he was. Err, I mean..."

"She," Isabel corrected calmly, and I blinked. "There... we had a kind of secret funeral service, and Maria named her then. Keva. I think there was a middle name, but I can't remember it. Keva DeLuca-Guerin."

I felt tears starting to come to my eyes, and realized that there was a thirteen-year old boy diagonally across the bus from Isabel, looking at us. Probably wondering what the heck we were whispering about so intently. I couldn't worry about him right now though, about being watched. "K-Kevin was the name of Maria's favorite uncle - who she hasn't seen in years and years. I think she might have chosen the name remembering him." Isabel nodded silently. "Tell me all about the service."

"What, here?" Isabel asked, and I nodded. So, a little uncomfortably, she told me about how they'd all driven out to Frazier woods, and how Max, Kyle, and Mister Valenti had worked together to dig the resting place. In an odd way, I wished that I had been there. It didn't sound like a very pleasant memory, of course... but Maria was one of my oldest friends, and it was the least I could have done to respect and honour her child. And I smiled when she told me about Maria going home with Michael openly afterwards, even Amy DeLuca unable to complain, and about the plans for a visit to Arizona.

"Oh-okay," she finally mumbled, drawing her speeches to a close. "Your turn now. Computers and translations."

"It -- it's going pretty well... within certain limitations," I said with a smile, and started to explain about alphabet encoding and historical linguistics. (And she explained a bit to me, like when I referred to the 'English alphabet, and she corrected me that it was the Latin alphabet, and used by the Germans too, and so on.) After I'd gotten through graphical representations of letters, we both came to the realization that maybe I wouldn't be able to figure out the alien book before senior year started in the fall.

Isabel gave a fairly long, drawn-out sigh. "Tired?" I asked, and she smiled slightly and nodded. "Well, we're almost home." Sure enough, the lights of the university could almost be seen, though none of the buildings were terribly high. It wasn't that far from campus to the bus station - I've walked it sometimes, but that hadn't seemed like a good idea today.

"I dunno." Isabel's voice was wistful. "University of New Mexico at Las Cruces is a nice place, especially with you around - but I'm not sure I'd want to live there."

That sentence startled me slightly. I thought we *were* living there... but maybe that was a kind of joke, or an important distinction that I hadn't grasped before. Did Isabel think of this as an extended getaway spot instead of as a semi-permanent thing? To an extent the difference in terms didn't really matter - I didn't really think of the residence at Las Cruces as 'home' in the same way that my parents' house in Roswell was - but maybe it indicated that Isabel was feeling even more homesick than I sometimes got. (Going back to Roswell yet again and not being able to see her parents probably contributed to that.)

And maybe that meant that she wasn't going to head off for University in the fall after all - which I had to say I liked the thought of, at least on one level, but then what was next for her? I didn't think that Izzie really knew - which was something her parents probably wouldn't be wild about.

"Do you wanna stay over at my place or go back to the girls tonight?" I asked her softly.

"I'm with you," she insisted, hugging my shoulders firmly with one hand. "Definitely."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

(Maria):

"Yaargh!" The word burst out of my lips as I suddenly woke up. For a moment I wasn't clear either on where and when I was in the real world, or what had happened to bring me back here so suddenly. Then, there were the blue LED indicators of a clock radio - they read 11:13 and only really matched one device that I knew - Michael's. We'd just gotten back from Arizona, and visiting Laurie, yesterday, so I guess I wasn't quite used to not being in our shared room in the Tucson Dupree mansion. I'd had a startling dream, or something like that. Not quite ready to directly face whatever had startled me, I got up, and headed out of the bedroom - partly to check and see if by any chance my lover-boy was somewhere else around. No luck there.

Checked the fridge, grabbed a cinnamon-ey Snapple, and sat down on the loveseat. Okay, what had been so bad about the dream? The first few images or dream elements that I could think of didn't seem so bad - a town square or something, crowds hanging back around the edges, and in the wide open space a showdown or... or a duel of some sort taking place. One of the people looked a bit like Max. Okay, well, that might be a bit scary, since people get hurt or killed in duels, but remembering that didn't make me feel the same sense of fright. Michael. Michael standing next to me, and -- and a kind of ceremony. A man in front of us, crowds of people sitting in rows behind and watching... both of us dressed up in unusual but pretty clothes, with a girl on the other side of me and a guy on the other side of him... a wedding! Michael and I, getting married, at night - with a small, pale, but beautiful full moon hanging right overhead.

That DEFINITELY wasn't the scary part. I mean, well, if I was marrying Michael tomorrow I might have some cold feet jitters and so on, just because I didn't feel quite prepared for it yet, but as a dream sequence it looked remarkably inviting and all kinds of romantic. There... there had to be something else, something that I hadn't yet brought to mind because I was so scared of it...

When it suddenly flashed before my eyes, I dropped the Snapple bottle - it bounced once off of the rug that Isabel bought him for Christmas, spilled some, and managed to land very nearly the right way straight up, though I didn't really find that out until later. I was remembering a pod, like the one that Michael and the others had been, up in the rocks near the Puhlman ranch - but still operative. And even though it was very clearly the same sort of thing as the old pods that I had seen, it was not at all in the same place, not a cave, or a sewer like the one Ava had apparently come from... but in a lab? I couldn't really see much, just that there was other equipment on the one side of the pod, and a shiny metal wall on the other.

And inside the pod, I could see a very cute little baby - a boy, looking maybe a few months old - though that probably wasn't so relevant given the circumstances. From what I'd managed to understand about the pods, their occupants were put inside early, maybe as soon as conception took place, and the point at which a natural child would be 'born' wouldn't matter that much. That little baby wouldn't really be any months old until he was allowed to emerge from his protective confinement, and that seemed ineffably sad, and also more than a little frightening.

There was more than that, though... who was this kid, and where was the pod? As far as where, my thoughts immediately jumped to a government lab. How they'd have an alien pod, I wasn't at all sure. No Special Unit agents had ever managed to find the ones in the Pod chamber or in the New York sewers as far as I knew... or at least, they hadn't seen them AFTER they'd been put there. Hal Carver had told Michael how alien protectors had rescued the eight inhabitants of those pods from the Air Force... had they also had to retrieve the pods themselves, or the parts that made them up? Or maybe that hardware had never been in Air Force hands. It was hard to tell.

This was about the point that I looked around and retrieved the Snapple bottle, and did what I could to soak up some of the spilled drink. Didn't worry too much about it - Michael could clean that up much better than I could just by waving his hand - if he'd bother. Okay, don't keep dwelling on 'where' the pod was, or when. What about the question of 'who'? All of a sudden a realization hit me... the baby looked quite a lot like Michael, and just a bit like my Mom. Was... was he another child of Michael and mine - one who hadn't even been conceived yet? Seeing the baby had reminded me of Keva, though I hadn't realized it until just now. And -- and who had taken my baby and put him in a pod??

Trying now to put the dream out of my mind, I reached blindly out for the shelf underneath the coffee table - and got another big shock. The first thing that my fingers closed on was a big sheet of white paper, and as I drew it out I realized that there was a drawing on it. For a long moment I couldn't tell who would have made this, and then something about the penciled-in lines clicked, even though I wasn't sure I'd ever seen a sketch that Michael had ever done. I'd heard the stories about the geodesic dome sketches, and somehow I was sure that this was his work.

The picture was... well, Michael and I were both in it - he with his hair sticking up, wearing a t-shirt and jeans, me wearing a skirt and a tank top, and both of us looking a bit tired and grimy, though it was hard to tell what gave me that last impression from the chary pencil lines. There was a desert landscape around us, and a big cone shape lying on the sand - was that supposed to be the Granilith? I'd never really seen it in any other position than standing up, but the size sort of fit. There were two other people in the background, a guy and a girl, but their faces weren't really drawn in, so it was hard to see anything more than that.

I looked at the picture, trying to figure out what it meant, if anything. Just then, I heard sounds from outside - footsteps, and a key in the lock. I turned my face away from the sketch just as Michael stepped inside - there was no time to hide it, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to. "Hi, baby."

"Hello there." He smiled and came over. "I, umm, that isn't finished yet, and maybe it won't ever be, but..."

"You... you don't have to explain anything," I insisted, putting the sketch on top of the table, and pulling him down into the seat next to me, kissing him hello. "Though if you want to talk about sketching later, I won't mind." I was about to kiss him again, harder, or at least I thought I was, but instead I blurted out, "I... I had a dream just now."

Michael raised an eyebrow. "You were sleeping?"

"Umm, yeah, I was really tired and was just going to lie down while waiting for you - but anyway." And I started to tell him about the little baby boy in the pod.

-------------

(Max):

"Are we ready?"

Michael and Ava just looked at me with quiet confidence, as if they didn't even need to nod to make their affirmative response perfectly clear. (Which I guess they didn't.) Brody's face quirked, and I wondered if he thought I was stepping on his lines, or her perquisites as the theoretical leader of this mission. "Yeah, okay I think so," he muttered quietly.

"Okay, remember what we said," Ava chimed in. "Together to the end. Let's go." And we headed into the convenience store, trying, for the moment, to look like four shoppers instead of a crack burglary team or something.

I wasn't honestly sure what the right word was for what we were doing here, but I schooled myself to follow Brody's lead, for a while at least. `We went into the store, picked up a few things, and waited in line. As the clerk rang up our chips and soda pop, Brody also asked for something out of a small display of alcohol behind the counter - I hadn't realized that convenience stores in Utah could sell liquor, but maybe the usual rules had been bent, because it made a lot of sense as the key to this protocol.

"Alright, can I see some ID, sir?" the clerk asked in a bored tone of voice. Instead of passing over his driver's licence, Brody produced two other items - one that we had faked, and the other bought from his contacts - a little open booklet like a passport, and a small laminated card.

He considered them, and then leaned forward, so that the customers in line behind us wouldn't likely hear his words to Brody. "Aren't your friends a little young?" Actually, that could have been taken another way by someone who didn't realize the significance of the military ID and authorization papers that Brody had produced - it could have either been about suspicion that an older man was buying liquor for teenagers, or suspicion that we couldn't possibly be Air Force officers approved to see a top-secret vault.

"Oh, they're not as short of years as they look," Brody ad-libbed, and I could hear Michael stifling a chuckle. Brody didn't know the half of it - if our lives were counted as starting back before the crash in forty-seven, then we were all much older than he was, or the clerk. "And they've got rank enough, too," he whispered.

"All right, sir," the clerk whispered. "Feel free to wait over by the sandwich bar while I help these people out." Well, that made some sense. We took our things and wandered over to the other counter, which was unattended, but it made some sense for us to be hanging around there. The clerk put one of those 'back in an hour' signs up on the door first, to discourage any new clientele I guess, and then quickly ushered the people who were already inside out with what they needed. Then the front door got locked, and he moved the potato chip display and swung in the fake wall that I knew had been there.

"Have - haven't I seen you in here before??" he asked suddenly. I got a slightly nervous sensation in my stomach.

"Just wanted to take a look at how secure the set-up was before letting you know who we were," Brody said with a breezy air. "Can't take any chances with this stuff, still - I hope you realize that."

"Well, yes I guess. Never thought that I'd actually be showing anybody down there." The clerk sighed slight. "Brandon West, sir. Would - would it possible to give me just a tiny look? I've always been curious."

Brody hesitated just for a moment. To me it seemed to make sense to bring the guy along for a bit - better where we could keep an eye on him than back upstairs, maybe making a call just to confirm that we were indeed authorized visitors. But I didn't want to speak out. "Okay, no harm I suppose - but just for a minute," Brody muttered sharply, and I was impressed by how well he handled that. Unless he was just naturally grumpy that something hadn't quite gone the way he'd expected.

The next hurdle would be mine, the electronic door system at the bottom of the stairs. I'd told Brody that I'd figured out the key to the time-based code system, but that was a big crock. I was actually confident that this gadget would not long stand against my alien powers - but I hadn't been able to test that out beforehand. Well, worst comes to worst, there's more than one way to get a door open. Stood up next to it, peered at the keypad slightly, waved my hand in front of it, and concentrated. For a long moment, I had nothing. And then a series of numbers started to show up in my mind. I waited until they were all sure that they belonged there and were in the right order, and started punching the digits in. 937104.

The six numbers blinked out and showed as a row of dashes, just ------. That didn't' entirely reassure me, but I tried the little knob, and it turned, and the door opened in. "Whoa," Brandon whispered. "Are - are you sure that it's okay to take me in there?"

"It's not exactly regulation," Ava said softly. "But I don't think it's going to be a big issue - that is, if you still want to come."

From the look on Brandon's face, he wasn't about to tell her that he wanted to go back up to his counter - The pretty girl least of any of us. On the other side of the door was a short corridor with an open doorway on one end and a sealed metal sliding door across from us and down a bit to the other. The metal door we didn't need to worry about at this point - it led to a small storage closet, we hadn't been able to figure out what was stowed away but it wasn't our objective. Before we worried about the objective, though - "Michael?"

Michael smiled, fumbled a fancy-looking metal gizmo out of his pockets and pointed it at the security camera in the hallway without letting Brandon see what he was doing - and making sure to let Brody see. (Hey, I hadn't really noticed how close their names sound like this - Brody and Brandon. That's just kind of weird.)

The truth was, of course, that the 'gizmo' was nothing at all - it was something that Alex had put together for us using a pencil, some aluminum foil, rubber bands, and two pieces from out of a busted MP3 player. It looked impressive though, and like a stage magician's wand, served to misdirect the naive audience from the key factor - the alien forces that Michael was really using to short out the camera. We made sure that nothing looked amiss before letting Brandon into the hallway and to the open exit.

What we saw next caught me by surprise a little, even though I'd seen the blueprints and knew what to expect. When Brody had first talked to me about sneaking into government facilities looking for an alien spaceship, I'd been expecting something a little more small and claustrophobic. This room, if you could call it that, was a big underground hanger that looked like it could be the centrepiece of a credible Area 51 complex, (though Area 51, more or less by definition, was in Nevada and not Utah. We'd gone through several documents on Nevada military facilities, guided by the area 51 rumours, before getting the Utah hint.)

There were only a few objects, vehicles really, being stored in the hanger, and most of them were small enough to be dwarfed by the room. Human-built spaceships and aircraft, most of them, I was pretty sure - not quite sure what was special enough about them to warrant being here. A few *might* have been alien, or might not, but there was no doubt about the biggest one.

Even that ship wasn't huge, though it was a bit hard to judge scale in this unfamiliar setting. "Great galumphing earwigs," Brandon muttered softly, looking at the impressive lines and odd blue sheen of the vessel as we carefully stepped close. Brody cautiously brought out a pocket digital camera and snapped off a few quick pictures while keeping his own body between the camera and Brandon.

"Okay, let's roll for doubles," Ava said in a whisper just loud enough for everybody to hear. "Max, you wanna look for a way in?"

"I definitely do," Brody insisted. Obviously, he didn't want to get left behind, and I couldn't blame him. Impelled by a blind hunch, I hurried around the 'nose' of the ship to the other broad side, picked a likely looking spot, and concentrated. A handprint appeared on the hull, and I waited just long enough for Brody to spot it before stepping up and lining my right arm up to the silver pattern. "Watch out, Evans - it might be a trap!"

"Maybe - who can tell about aliens," I said, feeling guilty for trying to mislead him indirectly. "But the invitation seems pretty clear, and I want to give it a try. Michael, maybe you should be here to tackle me and push me away from the ship in case something goes wrong?"

"Umm, yeah, okay," Michael agreed, playing out the charade. I used the handprint, and sensed that it was at least as picky about whom it would let inside as the similar entrance to the pod chamber. A door slid open almost happily for me, though. Sometimes, just sometimes, it's actually good to be king.

"Oh, man," Brandon muttered, craning his upper body around to get a better look without moving his feet. "I'm really not sure that I should be here anymore."

"You can't go," Ava told him persuasively. "If you opened up the store doors, people might get suspicious when we have to come back up."

"Okay, then I won't open up," he said, sounding a bit agitated. "I'll sit up there, read a book - and adjust the time on the 'back at so and so time' clock. But..." Michael reached out and grabbed Brandon's arm, which had the effect of cutting off his babbling.

"I think that we'd rather keep you where we can see you," he said calmly. "Even if you do get to see a lot that way too."

"Are - are you *really* air force officers?" he nearly yelped.

"As far as you're concerned, we are," Brody muttered. "Better for you to believe so the whole time... trust me." And then, turning away from Brandon, he stepped towards the door. "We don't have too long here though, I suspect - might as well make the minutes count. Evans, are you coming?"

I followed him into the ship - the ship that we'd landed in, back in forty-seven. Or probably the same ship, it was a bit hard to be sure even now. I wasn't at all sure what to expect next.

-------------

(Michael):

"Come on guys," Ava said. "It's been over five minutes since we came in."

That hardly seemed like long enough, but I reluctantly roused myself from examining the bizarre console full of what I thought were flight controls. That had been part of the plan that we'd agreed on, no more than five minutes inside the ship, to make of it what we could. No real way of telling whether it was important, if there was some alert or warning that we hadn't been able to prepare for or detect. Considering the consequences of slipping up, it did seem like a good precaution.

"Yeah, I'm good to go," Max said somewhat regretfully. "Anybody packing out?"

It took me a while to realize what he was asking, and by then Brody had started to answer the question. "Yeah, I got a map." What he was holding looked like a flexible plastic plaque, with some sort of a spherical projection map of the Earth on it - couldn't have been much detail, based on the size. "Could get something valuable about alien languages or color symbology."

"I got nothing," I said. "Ava?"

"Some pictures," she said, tapping a small digital camera before putting it away. "Let's go." Max led the way out of the ship and towards the stairs. I grabbed Brandon again - he clearly didn't believe we were acting anything like authorized personnel anymore, and so we'd probably have to figure out what to do about him.

"I couldn't resist picking up a few little metal disks with odd designs on them," Max admitted. "Not sure what they mean, if anything. Okay, let's see." He reached to the top of the stairs, watched as we filed out into the store, and replaced the false wall and the display of potato chips. "Dammit, there's a crowd waiting to be let in. That's going to make this tougher."

"Yeah," I agreed, glaring at Brandon, who just smiled back a little mockingly.

"Come on, he's not going to say anything about our being here, are you Brandon me boy?" Brody asked. "He's not that stupid."

I wasn't so sure. It was easier for Brody to take that risk, no matter what might be the penalties if the wrong people know he'd snuck in and find an alien spaceship... but unless the military knew how to detect the residuals of alien abduction even after I'd healed him, he wouldn't be facing a white room... and he didn't even guess that that was a possibility.

"No, I think that he won't," Ava said, staring at Brandon and speaking in a slightly odd tone. "Because nothing odd happened today. You just took a break and ate two candy bars while nobody was in the store."

"Two candy bars," Brandon repeated in a singsong tone, his face oddly blank. "Sheesh, I'm gonna have to bike those off over the weekend."

"Have a nice day," Ava said, in a similarly light voice, and hurried away as Brandon sleepwalked behind his counter.

We didn't leave the store as soon as Brandon opened the doors - figured that was a really good way to notice, so instead we hung out at the back, trying to make it look like we'd just come in as well, and went through checkout again. Brandon didn't even seem to recognize us, which suggested that Ava's Jedi mind trick was holding, at least to start. What Brody would think of what he'd seen I wasn't sure.

There wasn't any sign of real Air force investigators coming out to the quick stop - not that we really hung around for long to watch for them. It was straight to the nearest airport and grabbing a quick flight back to New Mexico, and I mostly just felt relieved that the Flying saucer hunt was over. We'd seen the ship, we'd probably never get a chance to see it again, but that was okay. Brody should be satisfied with what he'd seen, and Max wouldn't need to spend so much time away from Liz, which was a good thing too. We'd have to have a group meeting soon, to share what little we'd found, but that wouldn't take too long.

On the flight back, I realized that something was nagging me about something I'd seen on the ship - a little oval depression in one of the interior walls. Had I seen something that was exactly that shape before? It couldn't be a healing stone or one of the orbs, because they were round all over, not flat-backed like whatever this thing must have been. If there ever had been some *thing* that had once fit inside that depression, I mean.

-------------

(Tess):

"Okay, so you went into the ship with Mister Davis and that Brandon guy," I said to Max. "This is getting to the good part, I so hope. What did you find out there?"

"Umm, well, there's still a lot that we've been trying to piece together," Michael muttered. "All three of us were doing our best to get flashes from everything in there, and we all had at least a few, but it's hard to describe exactly what w... well, what I saw, at least." Max and Ava nodded. "Max got these little alien discs, and Ava took some pictures, but..."

"Okay, come on, we've got to get organized here," Isabel insisted. She came up and squatted down at the already-crowded kitchen table in Michael's apartment, and I gave up my seat so that she'd be able to sit down. Flashing a quick smile of thanks, Isabel grabbed paper and a pencil. "And spatial organization makes as much sense as anything else. How was the ship laid out, can we map it? Ava, pictures." She passed over some photos that had obviously been made on someone's home printer, and not with the best quality paper and ink - I hoped that the digitals were safe.

"Okay, fair enough," Max said. "The floor plan would probably be - umm, it was more or less a bullet shape, I guess, with rounding around the front towards a flat, pointed nose, and right angles marking off the back wall. That wasn't the very stern of the ship, but if there was a way into the back section, we never found it."

"Alright," Isabel said, having sketched that in with faint lines of the pencil. Max glanced at what she had done, nodded faint approval, and she reinforced the strokes more heavily. "Where was the entrance? Along one of the sides?"

"Yeah, here," Ava agreed. "Port side, if you use those conventions, which makes as much sense as anything. A little closer to the rear than the nose - yeah, about the middle of the flat side where it isn't rounded."

"Once we got in, there was a passageway where you could go left or right," Michael said, taking up the explanations. "Right led to a sort of crew cabin - there were shelves along the wall, maybe for sleeping in, and..."

"How big was it?" Isabel insisted, indicating her drawing. "Where should I place it?"

"Flush along the rear barrier, and separated from the starboard side of the ship by a wall going straight down the middle," Ava suggested. "Rectangular, and the entrance from the hallway would have been about there." She pointed to a spot on the paper, and Isabel sketched the room's outline in quickly.

There was a lot more of this kind of stuff, and I'm not going to go over all of the little details. Anything that's important will get mentioned later after all. Oh, but I guess I should report what some of the highlights of the session were, in my own opinion, at least.

The cargo bay was starboard side and to the rear; that's what Michael called it - it was a big empty space with odd designs on the wall as if it would open out, though they hadn't been able to figure out just how. It was big enough to fit the Granilith, as well as all of the incubation pods, so presumably that was where we'd all been brought to Earth

The cockpit was a little interesting, but not too much, because nobody had been able to make more than guesses out of the flight controls. There had been no obvious galley, or recreation room - maybe the Special Unit had taken the gear out of those locations, but given the suspicion that the crew of the ship had been three or four beings like Ed, I suspected that they simply didn't need entertainment or variety of diet the way people did - or even half-aliens, since I wouldn't have wanted to head into space for a long journey under conditions like that.

We all looked at Ava's pictures, and Max's little discs, but pretty soon the meeting was breaking up - Liz had to get back to the Crashdown for a shift, Max and Isabel had dinner with the family, and so on. I flagged Maria over before leaving, and then completely forgot what I had wanted to say to her. Admitted as much, even though it was awkward.

"That's okay," she admitted. "Actually, there's something I sort of wanted to show you. Michael's been doing these weird sketches, he's not quite sure what they're about, but -- well, you'll see. Come on."

"Okay," I said, as she led me into the bedroom. "Did you tell Michael that you were going to show me his art?"

"Umm, I said that I wanted to, and he agreed that it'd be a good idea." Maria managed to do a take at that. "Maybe I should bring him in."

"Actually, I'd rather you didn't," I said. "Want to get home and ask your Mom something before she starts to get ready for bed or anything, and it'd be like pulling tape apart to keep him from talking about electronic whatevers with Kyle and Alex."

"Yeah, I guess that that's true." Maria sighed. "You really do like her, don't you? My mom??"

"Umm, yeah I guess," I said, feeling a bit foolish about admitting it. "Never really had a mother figure - not that... well, I mean, I can understand if it's weird for you, me bonding with her..."

"A little, yeah, but on the other hand - it helps keep her off my case, and it's nice that someone can appreciate her, when I feel like I've gotten to the point where I - I mean, it's not like I don't appreciate her, but... oh, this isn't coming out right."

"I think I get the point," I said. "Eighteen years of parenting, and you start to get a bit tired of it."

"Maybe that's it," Maria admitted, seeming grateful for the 'easy way out.' "Okay, here we go, this is the one. Tell me what you think." She produced a sheet of white paper with a simple drawing on it, and I gasped in surprise.

The background was of a kind of stone stairway, old-fashioned, leading down into some sort of an underground tunnel, and at the top of the stairs three people were talking. One was definitely Michael, sort of facing away from the point-of-view of the picture, (which seemed odd if Michael himself had sketched it, but he'd definitely done a good job of capturing his own features.) Another was definitely me, wearing jeans with the legs cut off halfway down my calves, (which oddly enough wasn't a bad look,) and a white blouse. My hair was pulled back somehow, couldn't really tell how because it was behind my head, but that doesn't matter too much. And the third person was an exotic-looking woman with subtly commanding eyes.

"Me - me and Michael?" I muttered uncertainly.

"Oh, don't worry about that part," Maria assured me. "I mean, just because you're both in the same picture, there's nothing obviously romantic about it or anything. I'm in other pictures from the same series, holding Michael's hand sometimes." I smiled in relief at that. And there's one with a guy and a girl in the background - you can't tell the features in that one, but the girl is wearing this same outfit I think." She tapped the figure of me on the sketch. "And though we don't have any better look at the guy - from the build and the hair, if there's anybody I know who it could be, that would be Max."

"Ohh!" The breath went out of me. "You and Michael, Max - and me??" Just saying that sounded like it was betraying the friendship that Liz and I had gone through so much to build.

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "Going together somewhere, and meeting new people. Maybe aliens, though I'm not sure." She sighed. "We haven't mentioned anything about this to Max or Liz yet."

"Maybe... maybe it'd be better that way," I said softly. "I mean - well, we don't know too much about the circumstances of these pictures, but - it might cause some friction in their relationship. And - and since I can't picture any reason why Max would go anywhere important and leave Liz behind, especially if it's somewhere that a human CAN go safely... they shouldn't make their decision because of something that they think is 'meant to be.'"

Maria smiled slightly. "I... I don't like keeping secrets from your friends, but that makes some sense." She sighed. "Do you really think it's possible that these show the future? That which is yet to come?"

"A possible future," I allowed. "We do have free will, so the future isn't set in stone. But I do think that our powers can work to warn us of what *might* be ahead. Maybe Michael's powers are tied into these sketches."

"He's not the only one who's dialled in, I think," Maria whispered. "I... I had a spooky dream a few nights ago, and I think that it's connected to these."

"Hmm." Paused a moment. "Tell me about it."

"Don't you have to get home?" Maria shot back with a cheeky grin.

"Oh, yah, hmm..." I sighed. "Come with me? We can talk more in the car??"

"Well... okay I guess, but give me a few minutes to say goodbye and goodnight to spaceboy."

"Ah, right," I agreed. "For talking with us, and showing me the sketch, he can't be pulled away from the guys. For a goodnight kiss..."

"Well, you know how it is," Maria muttered. "Even if you don't have anybody to kiss at the moment." She sighed. "You're not going to hook up with Sean just because you're lonely, yeah?"

I had to laugh in reply. "No, I'm not that desperate yet!"

And she headed out to tempt Michael away from the guy talk stuff.

----------

(Alex):

Checked the monitors. Slight spike in the quantum data return level. Probably nothing.

Five days. Five days back here without Isabel, and I miss her smile, her touch so much that... hmm, that line's a bit mushy, but maybe I should remember it for the very end of the email - just before I'm about to send it off. She does kinduv like it when I get a bit sappy over her.

"It's happening," Luis called out. Surprised, I looked up again, and sure enough all kinds of activity were now showing up on the various digital meters. Within a few seconds, though, everything had quieted down - with the exception of a giant message box on several screens.

"Transliteration complete," Kristen breathed, sounding somewhat awed. "Estimated 98% confidence level." She looked over at the rest of us. "Brave enough to open up the output file and take a look?"

"No," Luis shot back firmly. Kristen raised an eyebrow. "I mean, not from lack of courage, but - I'm paging Doctor Pryor. This is the fulfillment of HIS dream - he should be here to see, right along with the rest of us, at the very least." Indeed, by the time he had finished speaking, the cell phone was almost completely dialed

Kristen didn't raise any objection; no more did any of the other project staff that happened to be in the lab at this point - one assistant professor and a few undergrad seniors. Despite the use of the word 'page', Luis actually spoke with somebody on the other end of the phone call briefly, and told us that the professor was only a few buildings away and would be arriving presently. So then we sat and continued waiting at the window on the computer screen, at least, until Kristen dismissed hers and started typing in a few other commands.

"Alright, the moment of truth is upon us, now," Jonas Pryor declaimed as he swept inside the lab with his usual number two trailing behind, and checking to make sure that the door was locked again after them. "First off, let's have no possibility of a mistake. Miss White, how many secure locations have you copied the output file to?"

Kristen chuckled softly. "Two, and a third nearly... done." She withdrew a small item from one of her workstation's access ports - too small to be a floppy or any other kind of disk I was immediately familiar with, and handed it over to Pryor, "There you go."

"Alright, now let us all see." A few more keystrokes brought up a screen of text on Kristen's screen, and I tried to read. The words were English, and the sense of them was English too, though a little bit stilted and oddly archaic in construction. I could make out something about the construction of temples and palaces, and a meeting in battle down by the shores of a river, but not anything more under the pressure of the moment, being rather far away from the screen as low man on the totem pole.

Everybody was quiet for a long time, maybe a few minutes. Finally Luis cleared his throat and shot a glance at Pryor. "Is that what you were expecting, sir?"

"I... I'm not quite sure how well formed my expectations are, but the results seem to satisfy on an intuitive level," Pryor replied softly. "From my meager understandings of the history from where the sample text was... retrieved, it seems to fit, although I think that some of the proper names have been distorted as they were translated from origin alphabet."

"We always knew that that could happen," one of the grad students put in testily.

"Indeed, and I don't mean to cast aspersions on what we have accomplished here today," Pryor said, beginning to sound more and more excited as he continued. "I suppose that they'd let us correct the names before we published, yes? Or perhaps we should leave the text as it is, and annotate the suspicious nouns..."

"Publish?" Pryor's assistant asked. "Are we... there already?"

"Perhaps not quite 'already', as in this afternoon," Pryor shot back. "I'll want to speak with more historians, and possibly take the translation matrix we've derived here to a few linguists. But soon - this is almost certainly publishable. We simply need to finish preparing ourselves."

"Yeah!" Kristen exclaimed, and Luis joined in with a somewhat calm and muted cheer. Soon the lab was full of somewhat overlapping plans - to bring in suitable food and drink to toast the success of the transliteration program on a truly unknown language, to celebrate with the food and drink AWAY from the lab, to let anyone else who wasn't already here know about what had just happened.

I remained pretty quiet through all of it, but not because I didn't share in the fever of success. Indeed, I had probably more reason to celebrate than any of them except maybe Doctor Pryor, but for a reason that nobody else could know.

Finally, the system was ready for me to feed it the input files I had made out of the Destiny book, and Isabel's reactions to the letters and phrases. But how could I do it without being caught?

------------

(Liz:)

"Hey, research girl, how's it going?" Max asked as he stepped through my balcony window, gesturing at the now-familiar sight of my 'alien files' notes spread over desk and bed. (I needed to be more and more careful to keep it all packed up when I wasn't actively working on cross-referencing or anything of the sort.) "What is it that has you gnawing on your bottom lip like that?"

"My wonderful overbite," I replied in a pretty good deadpan voice. "And your oval spot from the ship in Utah. I agree with you, there's something that's really familiar about that shape and size." I picked up and waved a piece of paper on which Max had done his best to 'draw to scale' the design on the spaceship's wall that he remembered, including the elliptical space in the middle of it. "I *know* that we both know something that would fit, but I can't put my finger on exactly the right thought. Oh well, it'll probably come in time." I stood up and met Max with a very affectionate kiss, before clearing away a bit of space on the side of the bed so that we could sit side by side. "How's things with you?"

"Oh, fairly ordinary if busy. Things are hopping down at the Center - there's a bunch of special events and such that Brody rescheduled while we were chasing down the ship in Utah, not to mention some backlog from days that the place had been closed. Everything pretty much normal at the Crashdown?"

"Yeah," I agreed. I'd been spending more time with Isabel, since she was finished her classes and had moved back to Roswell, and we talked about that for a moment - it was the only really noteworthy thing I could come up with aside from my work on the alien files. I suggested taking a road trip down to Carlsbad with him and camping overnight.

We were just about to head out for dinner, and I was putting away my notes, when Max reached out to touch my arm with his fingers.

"Wait."

"Umm... for what? I thought you *wanted* me to put this stuff away," I pointed out.

"No, not just yet." I looked up and realized that he was staring at the topmost sheet, which was the one with the one with the oval pattern design in it. After a few moments fumbling on the desk, his stare not deviating from that central spot, he managed to pick up a mechanical pencil and clicked out a bit of lead on it. Carefully, he sketched a very thin rim near the edge of the oval, staying always the same distance from the edge, and then started drawing closer in towards the center. One thick arc made out of four different arc segments, bending sharply where they met, another that was more smoothly curved, and a small five-sided spot in between them. By this point, the design was completely familiar.

"The Antarian whirlpool galaxy icon," I breathed. "The - the Indian necklace, the one that Isabel found most of in Atherton's basement, that led us to River Dog in the first place." Max looked up from his scribblings to nod seriously at me. "But - but I thought that that was something that the Indians had - had made based on the design that Nasedo showed them, or something like that. Not - not something that had actually come on the ship, from - from your home planet."

"I guess I thought the same thing, but we don't really have any reason to come to that conclusion," Max admitted.

"And - and where is the pendant now?" I asked. "I can't even remember whether we took it with us, that time that River Dog first showed us the map in the cave, or - or what might have happened to that."

"Think I remember giving it back to Isabel, including the little chipped-off bit that Frickin' Eddie gave you," Max said, and I had to giggle a bit at the fact that the young Mesaliko guy who River Dog had used as his messenger a few times was still 'Frickin' Eddie' to Max, because of the way that he had left us alone in the dark near the cave, as part of a test to see if Max would be able to make light and demonstrate his alien abilities. "She said that she wasn't going to wear it, now that we knew it was an 'unusual' design, and I haven't heard anything about it since. I wonder if she knows where it is herself."

"Maybe we should make a point of checking with her, before going out to dinner or anything," I said. "Is she at home?"

"'What, am I my sister's keeper?'" Max said in an overly theatrical voice. "I just came over from work, remember. Haven't been there in hours."

"Oh, right." Automatically I moved over to the phone handset, and when Max made no objections, started putting in a few quick calls. Max's mother hadn't seen Isabel in a while, and neither had Michael. When I tried her cell number, she picked up on the fourth ring. "Hey, Liz?"

"Yeah, hi there. Got Max over here, and we have a question." For the oddest reason I didn't want to just blurt it out over the phone, even though we've discussed more secret alien stuff over cell phones than this. "Where are you, anyway?"

"Over at the Valenti-DeLuca's - there was something I wanted to discuss with Tess. Oh, Alex called me earlier today!"

"Cool!" I said, and paused. "Wait a second, there's news from Alex, and you go to tell Tess first?"

"Sort of, but there's extenuating circumstances. Actually, we were just going to go grab something to eat, and then I was going to be coming looking for you."

"Hmm." I considered that, and shot off a look at Max. He grinned back at me. "Why don't the four of us meet at Mario's?"

"Well - okay I guess. See you there in fifteen?"

"Yeah." I hung up, and then clued in that Max's grin had more or less entirely worn away. "What's wrong?"

"First off, I guess I'm a little disappointed that you turned dinner from a just us evening into a group thing. Also, who's the fourth? Tess??"

"Yeah, I... oh." Suddenly felt very stupid. "I guess somehow I assumed that you knew what I was thinking of, and when you were grinning at me, it meant that you were okay with it. Sounds more than a bit stupid when I put it that way... except I guess that I expect you to be in tune with what I'm not even telling you."

"Well, it's okay," he said. "I don't mind meeting with Isabel in person to ask her about the necklace, and doing it over food is alright too. Is she going to be talking to us about whatever this Alex news is too?"

"Yeah, I guess so," I said. "Come on, hand me that stuff from the bed, and then we'll get going and find out."

"Sure, but make no mistake about one thing." As I stepped toward the window, Max leaned in very close, his body pressing tight against mine as he planted a kiss on my lips. "I do want to be alone with you, and if it's not over dinner, then it's just later tonight. Got it?"

"Hehehe, no arguments here," I insisted. "In fact, this seems like a *better* deal than having dinner with you and then spending time with Isabel afterwards - not that that's the only alternative I know. There's other fun stuff that we can't really do and eat at the same time."

"Yeah, true enough."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

(Liz):

"Okay, here's the scoop," Isabel said, as soon as the four of us were settled at a table at Mario's. Everybody else had their dinner already, but I'd had my heart set on one of the pineapple and sausage calzones, and it would be nearly ten minutes before those were out of the oven. "Alex is ready for... the thing that he went to Las Cruces for, and he wants some help without anybody there really knowing that his friends were around."

"Ohh," I said. Obviously Izzie didn't want to connect all of the dots in public, but after all of the secret stuff we've been through, a wink was as good as a nod for me. To actually use the Quantum computers, Alex would probably have to defeat some security precautions and get into the lab room at a time when he wasn't supposed to be there - if he wanted to translate the Book without the translated material ending up with Doctor Pryor and the rest of the project team, which we definitely DIDN'T want to have happen. Maybe there would be other computer-related safeguards, but Alex would probably know the most about defusing them, though somebody with alien powers who could directly manipulate the contents of the hard drives or whatever would be helpful. (Max had been practicing that kind of thing, and demonstrated some of it for me a few days ago.) "If secrecy is that important, should you go Isabel? You spent a lot of time around campus, and you're not really an easy figure to forget."

"On the flip side, that means that Isabel knows the territory better than any of us," Tess said, equally softly. "She's actually been inside the lab, twice, which none of the rest of us have. I think it's important that she goes. We can pull a few simple tricks to disguise her easily enough."

"Right, of course," Max said. I nodded. Just what the disguise tactics in mind were I couldn't tell - a dye job on that distinctive golden hair, glasses to change the lines of her face, (or even piercings, if she could get past the associations of imitating Lonnie,) and clothes that weren't her usual style would be a good start. "So, have you asked Tess to go along with you, Isabel?"

"Actually, yes. She's very useful in a covert situation like this, and since the Crashdown isn't terribly busy at this point, we figured that she should be able to arrange the time off without arousing any suspicion."

"Actually, I can handle that best, I think," I pointed out. "We could even have words about me cutting your hours if that would help."

"Probably just make people remember that she was at loose ends," Max muttered, and I nodded. "Just the two of you and Alex?"

"I didn't think that we really needed anybody else's help," Isabel said. "I'll make sure to carry your best wishes to Alex."

"Okay," I said. "Good luck." And then the guy called me to come up front and get my dinner.

"Did you ask her about the necklace already?" I asked Max when I got back.

"What necklace?" Instinctively Tess' fingers went to one that she was wearing - a pretty thin gold chain with a pentagon design of faceted stones hanging from it - probably not anything really valuable, just costume jewelry, but I wondered about the design. Was there some significance to the number five for her? Five alien kids in Roswell now, with Ava's arrival? Hardly seems like something that Tess would commemorate, though maybe she just liked the way it looked.

We sorted out that little misunderstanding, and after a moment, Isabel remembered that Maria had seen the pendant in her room, (she couldn't remember WHY Maria had been in her room, but that didn't really matter,) and asked to borrow it, just before she left for Las Cruces. Maybe it had been a finals study session, at that. I think I remember Isabel offering to drill Maria in her trig principles. Isabel asked Max and I if she could keep the pendant once Maria gave it back.

"Sure, no problem," I answered. "You found it in the first place, after all. So - any idea what you'll be doing to give yourself a new look?"

-------------

(Isabel):

He was waiting there when Tess pulled into a parking spot in the one part of the huge lot where the bright overhead lights weren't working. Alex I mean, of course. As I got out the door, he rushed straight towards me, and then sort of trailed to a stop, as if he was afraid that we shouldn't indulge in any obvious public display of affection, just in case we were spotted. There was no way I was going to let that keep me from my love, though, not considering how deserted the area seemed. I didn't overdo anything, but wrapped my arms around his neck for a second and gave him a short and sweet kiss.

"If the two of you are done," Tess said much too soon, and Alex stepped away a bit nervously.

"I suppose so. Come on, I remember the way from here," I said, walking away and giving Alex a chance to fall into step next to me, which he did quickly. Tess trailed along after, making slightly upset noises, and we walked over to Winfield applied mathematics building like that. There were a few other kids making their way across campus, mostly loud drunks, though we gave a 'safe ride home' buggy a safe distance on purpose.

We couldn't go in the main entrance to the building because there was a security guard there for the night shift, and I didn't really have the right hair to distract him by pretending to be a ditsy blonde. So Alex took the lead, and let us around back, near the pathway to the biochemistry building.

"There's a computer-assisted lock there that I can talk to," Tess whispered, just going over the plan for Alex's benefit, "and a self-contained security camera."

"Why self-contained?" I asked. "Almost makes it too easy if it's not hooked up to anywhere else. Keeps the security guards from watching on a remote monitor."

"I think they were worried about electronic geniuses turning off the cameras from a network hookup in another building," Alex put in. "Or an inside job with one person staying inside the building after a legitimate class activity."

"Hmm," I muttered. Made some kind of sense. "So I'll take care of the camera. How gentle do I have to be with it?"

"No real need to leave it operative, but try to make the failure look natural, not obviously sabotage or willful destruction," Alex suggested, and I nodded. By this time we had gone partway around the building, and I caught a glimpse of some movement inside one of the windows. "How many people are likely to be still working inside, Alex?"

"Not sure... there are a few projects that might be going all night on any given day - plus students, whether they're doing a serious all-nighter or just using some sort of all-night pass to mess around in one of the student labs."

"Hmm," Tess muttered. "We'll have to be pretty careful on our way through the hallways and stairs." There wasn't much more talking until we'd gotten to the back door and Tess passed us all through. I knew that she'd make sure that the usual record of an entry was suppressed. I hurried over to the camera and focused my powers on it. Snapping the tape inside its miniature video cassette was easy, and then I did my best to figure out how much tape had already gotten onto the forward reel in the time since Tess had opened the door and randomly demagnetize at least that much, which would turn the picture and the sound into hopeless static. 'Erased' over that section of the tape a second time, just to make sure, and followed Tess and Alex quickly up the stairs.

We only had one slightly worrying moment on our way to the Quantum lab on the fourth floor of the building. Tess was the first one to notice footsteps coming towards us from out of one of the lab rooms to the side, and signaled Alex and I. There were no cross passages or unlocked doors to quickly duck away into, except for one swinging door that was marked with a very familiar icon. "Umm, well..." I managed to mutter uncertainly before Alex dragged me into the guy's washroom behind Tess.

I only had a moment to get used to being inside 'taboo' territory and get a curious look around before Tess mouthed 'oh, shit.' The footsteps and voices were still getting closer, and one, a rough male voice, said something-or-other that definitely included words along the lines of 'take a pisser.' Crap, indeed. Someone would be in here, very soon, and all of us looked at the three enclosed toilet stalls.

I remember thinking it all through fairly clearly in a split second. Alex could go up to the urinal or the sink and look busy - he wouldn't attract any attention just for being in the guy's room, but if the person or people coming in recognized him, they might ask questions about how he got into the building so late at night and what he was up to. But if we each took one stall, then if anybody had to do more than just take a piss at the urinal, they'd be upset that all the available toilets were in use so late, and might even go to the trouble of looking above the walls or below the door.

Alex had moved by this point, for the middle stall, and Tess grabbed my hand and pulled me along with her to the spot furthest from the bathroom door - which was the largest stall, a 'handicap enabled' one. (Up three flights of stairs? No, there was an elevator near the main entrance, wasn't there?) I wasn't wild about the idea of going into the same one as Tess, especially considering the sort of associations a college guy might... but then, that was probably the point she was counting on, just in case somebody DID look in and see us.

Fortunately, we didn't actually have to go that far. Somebody had already entered the washroom, and I could hear him first making quick use of the urinal, and then spending a surprising amount of time at the sink with the water running, and finally the hot air hand blow dryer. Finally he left, and he and his friends moved away in the hallway - I couldn't tell in which direction, but as long as they were out of earshot I felt reasonably comfortable in coming back out.

Tess and Alex insisted that I just peek out cautiously first, though, and there was no sign of anybody in the hallway either. We were only about five doors away from the Quantum lab at this point, and hurried over to it. This door had a much more sensitive electronic lock on it, with one of those magnetic stripe readers and a combination keypad. Alex had mentioned that each section of the lock had a tamper detection routine that would lock down the other side. Neither Tess nor I were sure if the use of our powers would be detected as tampering, but we had agreed to each tackle one portion of it, working in tandem to reduce the danger of setting it off.

That was the plan, at least, and a good one. When we waved our hands and did what Kyle would call 'the alien voodoo we do so well', my light went green, and Tess' didn't. She shot me a look. "If you went early and set off my lockout..."

My heart crashed, but Alex intervened. "There's no indication of that yet. Try again, Tess, and see if you missed something. Isabel, now that you're in, do you think you can lock out the lockout on your side?"

"Umm, yeah, worth a try," I said. As Tess prepared to make a second try, my green light winked out, because it only lasted for ten seconds or something like that, but it didn't matter. I was connected to the system and knew I could activate it again when I needed to. Tess made another gesture as if inserting something invisible into the card reader, and...

As it went green, I could sense electronic signals trying to activate the lockout on my keypad, but they didn't matter - I had switched it back to green already and could kill the lockout signal as it arrived. The door opened, and all three of us hurried in. "Okay, what's the next step?" Tess muttered, a bit sourly.

"I'll need you guys to help run the consoles for me," he said, indicating three workstations on different desks near the midpoint of the lab room, where I'd seen Kristin, Luis, and Alex himself working the day that I most recently visited the Quantum project in action. The far side of the room was dominated by the quantum mainframe itself - it seemed weird that they needed something so big to harness the computational power of sub-subatomic particles, but I suppose everything else to do with computers starts up giant and then gets miniaturized, so why not this?

"We have no idea how to work this thing," Tess reminded him as I slipped onto the middle desk chair - so that no matter where Tess and Alex went, I'd be next to Alex.

"I'll explain," he said. "And rush over to do it myself when that seems necessary - but this will be quicker for simple things." Tess nodded, and went for the left desk, but Alex stopped her with a hand gesture and sent her off the other way.

I'm not going to even try to relate in detail the steps necessary to bring the quantum core 'online' and load the necessary program code into it. Doesn't really matter for the story, though. I did get a sense of something impending, though, as if I could guess how much this translation, when and if we got it, would change all of our lives.

Did remember the moment when Alex pulled a little CD single out of his jacket and came over to my station, apparently because mine had a CD slot. "Is that... the digitized book?" Tess asked.

"Yeah, somewhat compressed," Alex said. "The full scans wouldn't have even fit on a full CD, but I was able to identify the repeating patterns - Antarian letters probably - and just record their position on the pages instead of saving the full shapes over and over again..."

"Because that would be redundant and wasteful," I filled in, smiling slightly. "Okay, what's next?"

"Well, Doctor Pryor is the only person with the clearance to start a translation batch," Alex answered, "so we'll need to either access his secure GUID or find some way of convincing the software that it should accept another code. Using his would be a lot simpler. I'll start by logging in with Luis' username - I don't know his password, but that'll establish a digital connection to the users data file without leaving a trace of me. Then you can use that connection to look for Pryor's name and find - his password, or his GUID directly, whichever."

"Why not punch in Pryor's username?" Tess suggested.

"Because I don't really want to create a trace of a failed login with his name," Alex pointed out, and I nodded.

I tried, I really did, but there was so much electronic activity going on after Alex punched the enter key that I couldn't get any particular sense of his 'users data file.' "Uh-oh, I didn't see it," I muttered to him, getting a sinking feeling. "What do we do now? Can we afford to try again??"

"I'm not sure that would be a good idea, if it didn't even 'almost work' the first time," Alex admitted. "Maybe we need a plan B."

"Ah, yes, hunting the wily and elusive plan B," Tess muttered. "Where do we start? You're the computer guy, you need to tell us how we can help you."

Alex's face, already blank, showed the first trace of panic then.

-------------

(Tess):

I paused only a moment before getting up out of the chair. Pacing usually helps me to think. "Alright, Alex, stay with us - Isabel and I can brainstorm, but we need the computer guy to tell us what just might work. You... you said something about fooling the system into thinking that it doesn't need Doctor Pryor's login, or his gooey-D or whatever, before starting a translation run. Can we still give that a try?"

He paused for just a moment. "Maybe, but we'll only get one shot at it, and if I've overestimated your abilities to work directly with the data structures in the computer, then how sure are you that you can trigger an if clause bypass?"

"Then we don't work directly," I suggested. "I think maybe that was the problem in the first place. You don't need us to directly affect the computer - you can make all of these changes yourself. We're just here to make the computer agreeable and have it let you in anywhere you need to go - except for that one door that we can only try to go through once."

Isabel brightened up. "So Alex just calls up a file, and if there's an access denied signal inside the computer..."

"Then you change it into one that would allow the request," Alex agreed. "Worth a try, especially if I choose my first few requests as ones that would be unlikely to trigger notices. Okay, well, first I still have to get past this login screen."

"And you can't go in as you," Isabel recalled. "Because your login is routinely tracked. Need any help with that?"

"Nope." He typed in 'guest' as the user name, and even though all that came up in the password were five little asterisks, it was easy to see that he was typing the same five keys in the same order. A desktop and a command prompt appeared.

"They left an anonymous guest login in the system?" I asked, a little amazed.

"Yeah, well, it's not a completely obvious default," Alex replied, "and there aren't many strangers off the street who'd even be able to get into this room. Come on, now, we don't have time to waste. Ready?"

"Okay, yeah," I agreed. He punched in a command to pull up a source code file in the security system, and got SECURITY ACCESS DENIED. "Okay, come on, don't panic, I saw what we need there. Try it again."

"Got it," Alex said, and entered the same command again by tapping on the up arrow key. This time the source code file appeared before him. "Okay, let's see how quickly I can remember my C syntax. Geek don't fail me now."

It wasn't too long before Alex reported that we were ready to try sending the command into the quantum core, through the sabotaged security access module. At Isabel's suggestion, he'd kept a copy of the original version, which could be moved into position just before we were ready to go, leaving just about no trace of the tampering. "Okay, everybody ready?"

"Just one question," Isabel asked. "How long is this going to take once we get it started? I just remembered that first batch that you did which lasted for hours or most of a day."

"It's a bit hard to tell," Alex said, and sighed. "The speed issue has been improved slightly, but many hours wouldn't be too much to expect, especially considering that this is probably more complex than anything that we've ever tested. We're not going to stay here in the lab until we get a result; it'd be too risky."

"We're not?" I asked, unimpressed by this revelation.

"Well, it wasn't part of the plan," he said after a moment. "I've issued the instructions to transfer the deciphered text to my account on the student lab, where I don't think anybody would be looking for something like that. If anybody else tries to log in or authenticate on the quantum core before it's done, then our data and the customized code vanish completely. That way, they won't see anything out of the ordinary."

"But we'd be back at square one," Isabel complained.

"Not entirely." He tapped a little black card. "I've saved the key instructions, and swiped various login credentials. If I need to get back in again, I could do it without your help - including the door and everything."

"Except the disconnected security camera, once they fix that," Isabel pointed out.

"Yeah, well, I'd have to get creative there..."

"Let's stop arguing, and just do it," I suggested. "Start the wheels turning Alex, and let's blow the joint. I'm starting to like this part of the plan."

Alex looked over at Isabel, who nodded, and then started working very quickly, typing instructions, (but never as quickly as in the movies, pausing briefly every few seconds to check the output and remember which one came next,) dragging various icons over a graphical interface that I realized signified the interface between the conventional workstations here in the lab and the mysterious 'quantum core.' Finally, after several quick rechecks, he started logging out. "We're about as good as we're going to be."

"Okay, now we make it look like we were never here?" Isabel asked. Alex nodded, and she took charge of that part, insisting that every chair, every monitor, every computer mouse was back in exactly the same position and status that it had occupied before we opened the door for the first time. Check again with alien powers to make sure that the hallway outside was clear, and off we headed to the back door once again.

"And what now, Alex?" Isabel asked as she hurried down the last flight of stairs. "Do you just slip back to the dorm and go to bed at this point?"

"Well, I guess that I was planning on that," he admitted with a big grin, "but I could probably be convinced otherwise."

"You want to spend some time alone together before we head back?" I guessed.

"Yeah I do, but not primarily," Isabel told me. "Alex and I can tell you when we need a little privacy, but... well, I don't know. Something about tonight makes me feel more like being together with as many friends as I can instead of alone with the guy that I love. The three of us are the only friends here, and no offense to those we know back in Roswell, but that seems like enough."

I was surprised to hear her say that, I have to admit. Alex seemed a bit stunned too, but he was smiling in agreement. "Head out to the desert west of town?"

"Sounds good, yeah." Isabel led us out the door, and we crept around, making sure that nobody noticed any of us on the way back to the parking lot.

-------------

"I guess I'm still uncomfortable with being out here with the two of you," I admitted.

"I don't think that there's any chance it's going to end up as a threesome, Tess," Isabel put in. "Even if you wanted a piece of Alex."

"No, not that," I had to reply through the nervous chuckles, (which actually made me feel a bit better.) "Just... why was it so important for this to be a friend thing and not a couple thing for you? I don't think I understood, though if you're not really able to explain I'll have to be satisfied with that."

"Hmm, let's see." Isabel's fingers started to pry at an oddly shaped lump in the ground in front of her, which apparently didn't want to come loose as easily as ordinary sand would. "This is, well, it's probably as close as we're going to get to the moment that started that day in the Crashdown, when we came to Alex with the barest sketch of an idea that he should try to do this translation thing. I know that we don't actually have results yet, but in terms of actually working for it, that'll be an anticlimax. Tonight was the high point."

"Well, yeah," I said after a moment, thinking back on it - about how I'd given Max the newspaper clippings I'd found about the Quantum project, just after prom, and how he'd brought the idea to Isabel before the three of us had asked Alex about it together. That had been a time when I'd been closely holding onto hopes about myself and Max, even though there had been warning signs that he didn't feel the same way about me - we'd kissed on prom night, and then the day after Alex agreed to look for some way to join the project, he told me that he was going to try to get back together with Liz. And she'd finally taken him back, after holding out stubbornly for nearly a year... "Definitely a rush, sneaking into the building and all of that."

"So I figured that it wasn't right to leave you out of anything, really, since you were the one who came up with the idea," Isabel said. "And... and that it would be a really bad time to rub your nose in the fact that I'm in a relationship, and you haven't found a sweetheart of your own, not for the lack of trying really."

"Yeah, I guess that that makes sense, and thanks for being so... considerate and whatever." I sighed. "You don't really need to, I'm used to..."

"Don't do the tough girl thing," Alex suddenly suggested. "It never really suited you that well."

"Not sure it's a thing that I do," I said. "I'm tough through and through, and I'm not sure that I can manage to be any other way."

"You can be anything different if you really want to be," Isabel put in. "That's what I believe, anyway. If you're tougher than most of us, then it would sort of make sense that Nasedo has something to do with it. He would have wanted to raise you like that. But, with any due respect to Nasedo for doing what he did to try and protect us, I wouldn't necessarily keep anything that he left me with in my personality, without being very critical about every side of it."

"Hmm." It was one thing for her to say things like that, but another to actually face the thought of becoming a completely different person than I'd been raised to be. Well, I guess that like all sorts of other things, it starts with one little decision and taking a step. "Okay, yeah, it sucks ass. Liz has Max, Ava has Kyle, and I'm the odd girl out unless I want to settle for... for Sean DeLuca or something. Even Rath and Zan aren't available any longer, because they were stupid and got themselves killed more or less."

"Yeah, I know," Isabel agreed softly. "Too bad that you didn't feel any sparks with the movie guy who had a crush on you."

"Oh, Martin? Yeah I guess... he was nice and all, but... if there's no heat, then what can you do?" Alex shrugged nervously.

"Well, we'll figure something out yet," Isabel said confidently. "You're still young, and you've got time to find a guy."

"Yeah, but that doesn't really help with now," I complained, and Isabel sighed in sympathy.

So I changed the subject, asking Alex if he had his escape plan ready for coming back to Roswell, which he said that he really hadn't thought of yet, and from there we moved on to how much of the summer was left, and what courses Isabel would be taking at the local junior college in the fall, and this career profile that they'd both taken long before I came to town - one that the Special Unit agent lady working undercover as a guidance counselor had been in charge of, actually, so it seemed likely to me that she'd been using it as a way of experimenting on her suspect-alien kids' heads. But anyway...

Isabel's profile had said that she should go into a care-giving profession, which she was starting to think was more and more on target as time went on. I joked that she shouldn't go into nursing, because if she dressed up in the cliche uniform there might be a riot. Alex suggested that she should try pre-med, and maybe become a doctor. Isabel said that it would take so long to get through med school, and that got us talking about whether being an intern or a resident in a hospital still counted as being in school.

When it started coming up on four AM, I sent the two of them off by themselves to make out and do whatever they wanted to do without me having to watch.

------------

(Kyle):

Ava and I were hanging around in the dining room, breakfast over, when Isabel and Tess came in, both looking tired but slightly triumphant. Ava gave me a look, and when I nodded, she waved them over.

"Thanks," Tess said.

"So, how did it go?" Ava asked Isabel, whispering so quietly that I could barely hear her.

"Not bad so far, but the final success or failure - wasn't clear when we had to leave Las Cruces," Isabel replied just as low. "It takes so long for the big computer to get any results, and we couldn't just sit there the whole time and wait, or somebody would notice that we were hanging around. Alex will let us know sometime today."

"Alright," I replied, not quite so quietly. "Oh, by the way, Isabel, Maria left something out at the house that she said you'd been asking her about."

"Ooh, the pendant?"

"A pendant, yep." Didn't put any stress on it, just in case, so nobody would think that we might be discussing an alien artifact, except those who knew. Come to think of it, I wasn't even sure if Tess and Ava had been told the whole story about the Atherton pendant and how they met River Dog in the first place. I'd heard it from Maria just recently, she'd been explaining about it while looking through her stuff to see if she could actually find the thing to give it to Isabel.

And then Tess went off to the back of the kitchen, because she was already late for her shift.

-------------

(Max):

I headed up the stairs to look for Isabel. She was in her room, with the door open, but sitting on her bed looking a little drowsy, wearing a t-shirt and comfy shorts. "Oh, hey, what's the word?" I asked her quietly, coming in and closing the door.

"Oh, about... last night?" She took a moment to place the right info. "Alex said that he'd let us know when he was sure, but I haven't heard from him yet."

"You didn't know when you left?"

"No, it took longer than that. Everything went fine, just a question of if all the necessary processing could... could complete before it would be discovered."

Never really like to hear the D word in a sentence like that. "So if somebody else on the project happens to go into the lab and try doing something else..."

"Then everything we set up vanishes instantly, and Alex has to start again, but they're none the wiser," Isabel answered. "He was clever enough to set that up." I nodded. "So, how're you?"

"Okay I guess. More stuff to tell you, but... it can wait. Dad was wondering if we could whip something up for supper."

"How about just going to grab pizza?"

"Hmm... probably not too bad an idea," I agreed.

"Okay. I'll get changed quickly, and then we can go."

"Alright. I'll go check my email and such." Isabel nodded, and I headed into my own room and sat down at my computer.

The email header with Alex's name on it was the first thing that I noticed. Hmm... what could that be about? I clicked on it, and got a message saying, 'this message has been encrypted for privacy reasons. Because the sender did not have your public key available to him, he has used a password for the encryption. The password hint is listed below:' And there was a long rambling paragraph, referring in very vague fashion to several of the adventures I'd been in and talking about how to format them together. Took me a few tries to come up with 'Gandarium_Granilith_Atherton' all spelled the same way as Alex had, and then the email itself appeared on my screen.

"Hey, Max, Alex here. I'm sending this to you, partly because you seem to be the one with the greatest claim over the text, but also because I think I can count on you to break the news to Isabel gently. Translation was successful, and the English text follows. We have a lot to talk about. Isabel can bring you to meet in my dreams.

"You are the royal four. Zan the king. Ava his queen. Vilandra his sister. Rath his councilor. You were created from the genetic material of your alien predecessors and human subjects. You were given human form so that you could live safely on..."

And it went on and on like that. I took a deep breath, wondering just how I was going to 'break this to Isabel gently.'

-----------

Michael called me on my cell phone just as I was arriving at the Crashdown for my shift, to tell me that we finally had the translation deal, and the whole gang was gathering to look through it. I said that I'd see them all at ten o'clock, because I didn't want to blow off work, but it turned out that I was so preoccupied thinking about what those words might mean that I couldn't keep track of orders, and Liz's mom sent me off after I broke my second glass. She didn't really ask what was on my mind, so I was saved having to come up with a lie.

When I got back to the new house, (I still think of it like that,) all of the likely suspects were in the living room, and the coffee table was full of printouts. That would be Max and Liz, Isabel and Michael, Tess, Kyle, and Ava. (I wonder how soon Alex will be able to get back to town now that he's concluded his secret mission.)

"Okay, so what are the high points so far? Can you spare enough time to fill me in?" I asked.

"The Granilith can take people... to another planet," Michael filled in. "It functions as a spaceship, among other things. Not sure just how many people can take the trip - at least four, but beyond that it's not clear."

I smiled, remembering that day that Michael had taken me up to the pod chamber to see that odd cone - the first time that he'd really taken a huge leap of trusting me with part of his alien background without any pushing from me... thanks to mister Carver I guess. And - then I remembered what Liz had told me about Future Max, and the Granilith's part in that.

"Hello, Earth to Maria, why are you staring through me like that?" Liz asked.

I chuckled weakly. "Sorry, just, umm... I need to sit down." This was a valid enough requirement, and unfortunately all of the existing seating was already taken up. Isabel was sitting cross-legged on the floor right next to the table even, poring over a few sheets, and it didn't even look as if she'd noticed me coming in. So, whimsically, I sat on Michael's lap in the big comfy armchair. (He hadn't been holding any papers, which would have made the move more difficult.) "What else?"

"A bunch of stuff about the background of the Royal Four and the history of the planet of Antar that led to... our arrival here," Max said. "Some of which is important and some is... the sort of stuff we've already decided is irrelevant."

Ahh, right. King Zan and Queen Ava - Princess Vilandra and Lord Rath. Even Tess didn't seem to be making a push that that sort of stuff needed any attention now, probably because she knew that it wouldn't get her a quarter of an inch with Max. "Also, a lot of this seems to back up what the Skins and various other people told us about the histories, but with a different perspective," Isabel said absently, still staring at the sheets. "Zan's father, King Sanren of Liaret, had been both a strong leader and an enlightened ruler, doing his best to break the traditional power of the more selfish nobles and the entrenched guilds. When Sanren died under suspicious circumstances, Zan assumed the throne while still young, doing his best to carry on his father's reforms and search for the truth about his death. But Kivar used the murder inquest as a rallying cry for those who didn't want to have to give up the power that they held, and started a civil war. He established himself as the first of a new dynasty, keeping the dukes and the guild masters well enough in line that none would dare betray him, but allowing them the freedom to oppress the commoners how they liked."

"Sure sounds like a kindred spirit with Nicholas," Michael pointed out.

"And there's material in here about other planets and places in the local area, mostly near to Antar," Ava put in. "The other four planets that came to the Summit meeting, smaller colonies and so on. But... well, what it doesn't obviously have is any RECENT news. If we're going to act on this, then we'd need to know..."

"Whoa, wait a second... act?" Isabel countered. "Who says that we have to take action based on this anytime soon? I thought that the point was just to learn, to find out more about where we came from." She stabbed an accusing finger at Tess. "You told me that..."

"Don't point the finger at Tess, please," Max said softly. "I... I understand your concern, Isabel. But, on the other hand... is it so easy for you to read all of this and refuse the idea of going to help the Antarian people? Finding some way to free them of the shackles of tyranny? I admit that I'm not sure how I'd go about it myself, but... but I'm certainly not ruling anything out."

"And - and I'm interested in taking action for another reason," I blurted out, taking Michael's hand. "I've mentioned this to Michael before, but... I want to talk to alien medical specialists, to find out if they know why we lost Keva, what the risks might be if I conceived again. If there's any way to squeeze those odds, I want to know it. Maybe if I was living on a planet with a different atmosphere while I was carrying a child..."

"Wait a second, first of all," Kyle put in. "Different atmospheres. Do we know if pure-blood humans could breathe the air on some alien world?"

"Actually, yeah, there's one interesting reference here," Liz said. "The reason the Royal Four had to be reborn as human hybrids was that Antarians are 'more sensitive to the poisons in the air born of Earthling industry' than we are."

"Air pollution?" Tess asked, looking up.

"Yeah, I think so. There's a lot of trace poisons in the air right now - sulfur and nitrogen dioxides, monoxide, and ammonia, for instance. If the true Antarians are about ten times more sensitive to them, then there wouldn't be any place on Earth that would be truly safe for them."

"And do we know if there are any traces on their planets that we'd be sensitive to?" Kyle asked.

"Well, no, I guess not. One thing that we'd NEED to ask somebody before blasting off."

"I'm still wondering exactly what this 'communication technology' is," Tess said, pointing at something on one of the pages. "There isn't any elaboration, really."

"The orbs?" Isabel suggested. "They gave us a message from Zan and Vilandra's mother - that's a kind of communication. Maybe if we found some way to 'point' them a different way, they'd let us actually speak to aliens and get up to date info."

"It's worth looking into," Max admitted. "What else?"

"How about you quiet down and let me keep reading?" Ava asked. Max blinked in surprise, but nodded.

"Okay, is everybody done with the first page?" I asked. "Might as well start at the beginning."

"Yeah, go ahead," Tess said, passing hers down the table. "I'm not getting anywhere further with it."

TO BE CONTINUED...


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter Fourteen

(Alex):

"It'd be a little suspicious if I asked to go home now," I said to the dream figures of my friends.

"Why - do you think anybody knew about the break-in, or that the computer was used without authorization in off hours?" Maria asked, playing with her fingers nervously.

"Oh, no." I let my hand slip out of Isabel's and started to rub her arm, delighting in how real the sensation of touching her was. "It's just, we're getting closer to a publishable success, and it's oh so very exciting!" I tried to only let a little irony through - I'd be excited about this too, if it weren't for the fact that my own priorities were a bit different. "Don't worry, I'll be able to figure out a way out in a week or so I think. So, let's see... did you see anything in there to explain why Kivar and the others wanted the Granilith so bad? What it could do, I mean??"

"Not really, no," Max said. "A bit about how it was discovered as a relic of alien technology, and how in the days before the Liaret dynasty it was fought over and stolen by different tribes and lords."

"Part of it was probably just that it was under Royal protection," Liz suggested. "Having it, or pretending to have it, would have given Kivar some legitimacy as the new King. And the neighbor planets were upset that he'd lied about something like that."

"Okay, yeah, I guess that makes some sense," I said. "And obviously, if you do go anywhere in the Granilith, it would have to be somewhere that Kivar couldn't seize it, and you, when you land."

"That's the idea - if we get that far." Max sighed. "Right now, I'm starting to lean towards Isabel's attitude - keep reading, keep learning, but just sit tight and keep the G safe."

"Keep our heads down," Liz put in, and laughed. That got everyone going, including me, and I wondered at what point Max's usual strategy mantra had become an in-joke.

"Oh, you caught the reference to Larek, right Max?" I asked.

"Yeah, I did, though I could wish it had said a bit more about him. He was a childhood friend of Zan's, Autarch of the nearby planet of Rahlicx. Apparently, Rahlicx has a check and balance system between an elected Senate and an Autarch who is selected on the basis of test scores and educated to become as capable an administrator and governor as possible."

"Any chance that we could get Larek back here to answer some more questions?" Maria asked. "I mean..."

"Oh, yeah, that worked SO well the last time," Isabel put in. "I nearly killed Brody Davis, and even when Larek was able to get back here safely, he didn't have much time to tell us anything clearly."

"It was enough to save everybody from the Gandarium," Liz countered. "But yeah, I do take the point."

"Also, after Brody got shocked and recovered some of Larek's memories, and I healed him... I'm not sure if Larek could 'use' him again," Max put in. "And he might not have another suitable... abductee anywhere on the whole planet. If Brody had to go from Roswell back to New York for the Summit..."

"Yeah, I do understand the difficulties." Maria sighed. "Just... well, I wondered."

"Any other news?" I asked them.

"Well, let's see... Liz and Michael have been talking about going off to New York with Ava," Liz put in.

I looked over at Maria, who just shrugged. "That's quite a long way to go on a summer trip. Any particular reason why?"

"Well, we've been feeling... big urges again." Maria looked away from me nervously. "The way it was way back when, we first... blah blah blah." I nodded to show my understanding of the vague euphemism. "And, since it kind of seems like with the alien mating instinct, there's something missing in human birth control, some subconscious impulse to sabotage it - I, I just don't want to risk conceiving a child again until I can have a bit more assurance that I can carry him or her safely to term."

"Okay, I'm with you so far," I told her, as reassuring as I could be. "So, Ava thinks that she might be able to help out, but only with something that she left behind in the Big Apple?"

"That's the idea, yeah. Alien contraceptive research. We're supposed to go in a few days, so I may be gone before you get back home."

"That's okay. We'll get back in touch soon, I'm sure."

"We'd better." Maria got up from the dream couch to come over and hug me.

------------

"Okay, what if we encode the pointer to that specific quantum state inside a sixty-four bit integer?" I asked Luis and Kristen, in our usual working room the next afternoon. "That would let us..."

"Oh, my... wow," Luis breathed. "Is that even possible? If so, how didn't I see it?"

"Because our man Alex has 'the knack,'" Kristen remarked, while I squirmed a bit uncomfortably. "Depending on what you had in mind, you could build a quantum list, or even some form of binary search tree with this idea."

"Oh, yeah, right." Peter thought about that. "Isn't there some kind of a binary tree that will approximate array index-based access in log-of-n time?"

"Yeah, I think so," Luis agreed.

"So where to next, hotshot?" Kristen asked me, and I couldn't help but let out a sigh. "Is there something bugging you? Thought you'd be more jazzed about this?"

"Yeah, um, well..." Oh, why not start to set the stage now? If Kristen could tell that I wasn't so excited about staying on the project, it didn't make that much sense to keep on like everything was in geeker heaven. "I... I guess I've just been feeling homesick lately. My best friend - her mother's going to be getting married, and everybody's talking about the plans for the ceremony. I guess I just... I do wish I were back home in Roswell."

Luis had passed the textbook over to Peter while I was talking, and left Peter to continue the search. "Did you realize you were feeling that way until just now?" he asked quietly.

"Maybe. Didn't really want to say something, since everything's so busy and people are so excited about..."

"Well, I wish you would have." Luis sighed. "You may not realize it, but as your liaison faculty advisor, I made certain serious promises when you came up to join the program, Alex. Your parents were a little concerned about us pressuring you to stay on longer than you wanted to stick around, that if you really felt it was time to go back to Roswell and enjoy the summer with your friends, I should do everything that was necessary to make it happen quickly."

I blinked. Was it really going to be this easy? "Umm... well, that's good to know. If I said that I did want to go, how quick is quickly?"

"Hmm -- we'd have to wrap up a few things - maybe day after tomorrow."

Took a deep breath. "Let's get on it."

"Not just yet." Luis took a deep breath. "I'll go make a few calls, and you head out, take a break, yeah?"

"Hmm. Okay, twist my arm, it's such a gorgeous day outside for a walk," I admitted.

------------

(Isabel):

I was lying front-down on my bed and considering the whirlpool galaxy necklace that I'd gotten back from Maria's room. Everything pointed to this being important; especially how Michael and Max had both recognized its shape as matching an empty spot in the ship they'd toured in Utah. Even my own alien senses could detect some potential in the pendant, but it was being - well, blocked somehow. Or... or broken.

Like a lightning bolt crashing down, the obvious answer hit me. Broken. The pendant was physically broken into a big part and a little part. Was that all that needed to be fixed? Concentrating hard on the two different parts and the rough edges between, I brought them together and used my powers to mend the break, knitting the molecules back together into a coherent whole. And the surge of... of something nearly knocked me off the bed. Not a power or energy, exactly, but a... a resonance, a humming that wasn't true sound, or a traditional signal like radio or microwave or light or any of those, but something that the Antarian part of me was picking up loud and clear. Could it be a telepathic broadcaster of some sort? Or a subspace transceiver using tachyon emissions or whatever to reach far-distant worlds?

The thing *was* a communication device, I was sure of that. Possibly even the 'communications technology' mentioned in the book. But - but how was I expected to use it? I held it in both hands in front of me, concentrated on staring at the design, sort of like we had when using the orbs or the healing stones, (okay, so there wasn't a design on the healing stones, but I'd sort of concentrated on staring deep inside it and the light had come on,) and after a long moment, said "Hello, can anybody hear me?" Got nothing back, the pendant stayed completely silent, and somehow I could tell that this was the wrong way to go, that it didn't transmit sound or anything like that. Tried a few other things, including thinking my words at it hard without saying them out loud, and using the thing like a web-cam, feeling increasingly silly. Then I turned over, lay on my back, closed my eyes, and tried to slip into a deeper rapport with the thing, letting it rest on my forehead or my chest. "What is your secret?" I mumbled.

Something occurred so faintly that I wasn't really sure if it was an impression from the pendant or a memory. Larek had come to Earth in the body of Brody Davis. Same with the emissary, and those other people who had been at the New York Summit. They'd come to earth into human bodies - they'd COMMUNICATED with Earth, not by sending their words or thoughts or images here, but by traveling here in spirit. Was - was it at all possible that this pendant could let me do the same thing? Not by trying to call Larek here to Earth in Brody's body, as I had once tried disastrously to do, but by going to him where he was?

The thought was startling enough to make my bed spin and do corkscrews as I lay there, (or so it seemed in my head at least,) but I gradually grew more and more certain that it was right... or at least worth a try. Larek - the name, the thought of him grew in my mind. We'd trusted him at least once before, and his information had helped save the whole world from the Gandarium. I... I knew him, in a sense, not what he looked like, but I'd been in his presence and remembered his words, and I'd felt his essence as I tried to draw his spirit out into Brody. And the book translation had told me of his world, the planet Rahlicx, a beautiful planet of small seas and fertile islands, orbiting a yellow-white star a few light years or so away from Antar.

It took only the slightest mental confirmation before I realized that my spirit was shooting far away from planet Earth, seeking out Autarch Larek. Probably as I lay there on the bed, I'd already slipped deeply enough into a mental trance, my powers resonating with the pendant, that all the heavy work had been done for me. Considered returning at that point, to tell Max and the others what I'd already found out, to ask their opinion before taking any more of a risk, but there was a strong urge to keep going, at least give myself a chance to find Larek. If I didn't find him, I could still get back to Earth, right? And then my consciousness took a quantum leap across hyperspace, and I wasn't quite so sure...

-------------

(Isabel)

I was in a room, lying on a bed, and for an instant I thought that the whole thing had been a failure or a vivid dream, that I was back home. But no, the room didn't look the same, or the bed, and I was... well, I wasn't sure about myself, because something was wrong. I staggered up to my feet, looked around the room, noticed absently that I had greenish skin and very dark hair in the mirror, also that something seemed to be kind of odd about colors. But I couldn't move very well, tripped and fell splat on the floor, which was hard and a bit rough, like stone or concrete. Let out a cry of pain and then got up again, more carefully, spotted a communication device on a countertop, made my way over to it, and then realized that I had no notion how to work it. All the buttons were marked with Antarian symbols, and even if I could remember what they meant, I didn't have any instructions. And I certainly didn't know any 'phone numbers' or the equivalent. So I settled for going to the door, pounding on the wall until I found the touch contact that made it swing into my room, going out into the cavern and yelling for attention.

Someone hurried over, an older Antarian woman I judged, and to my surprise I could understand her words. "Birena, what on earth is... oh, no, what's wrong?"

"Larek," I insisted, hoping that the same trick would use to let the word be understood by her. "Not - not really Birena, just borrowed her body for a moment. Came to talk to Larek - it's very important."

"What??" the woman muttered. "What kind of game are you..."

"It's not a game, Langda," an Antarian man said from behind me. I turned around to look him and tumbled down again. "Call the chamberlain quick, get anybody important down here," he said to the first woman. "I... I will do what I can to get you an audience with Larek, but don't exert this body that you've 'borrowed' and answer my questions. Who are you, and what world do you hail from?"

"Isabel Evans, of Earth," I muttered. "Not - not really Vilandra of Liaret, but there's - there's a family connection..."

"The exiled Royal Four?" he muttered. "Oh, boy, this is bad news."

"Why?" I asked. "Will Kivar know that I came here, and give Larek a hard time for it?"

"No, I wasn't thinking of that. But... you have no idea of the dangers of psychic identity transference under uncontrolled conditions, do you? Just found a spiritual resonance crystal and had to give it a try..."

"I, umm, I have some notion of the dangers to the host body," I admitted, feeling suddenly mortified that I hadn't thought of them before I left. "A - a few months ago, I used Larek's sympathy with his Roswell host to draw him back to Earth unprepared. The host almost died. But... but I thought that with healers available here..."

"There's that, but the dangers to the individual traveling can be great as well," my welcome wagon guy said severely. "Without your spirit present to regulate your body, I fear it may be slipping away as well."

"Oh, no," I muttered. "Can - can I wait long enough to speak with Larek himself, or should I give you a message to pass on?" She smiled a bit sheepishly. "Who are you, anyway?"

He smiled slightly. "My name is Veren Smeet, and I'm a healer in the Autarch's service. So, yes, I think that we do have some time hopefully. Please maintain eye contact." He reached out and took a firm hold of Isabel's shoulder, and with a shudder she felt that something which hadn't been working properly inside Birena's torso ever since she'd arrived was now set to rights. "But if there's anything important that is not for Larek's ears only, perhaps it would be better to explain to me while we wait."

I don't really remember what I said to Veren, though I remember babbling for at least a minute, probably several, about going into Alex's dreams and seeing how he saw me, which really didn't relate to anything. Finally someone else appeared, and I recognized Larek immediately. He did seem to look more than a bit like Brody, though there was also no way to miss the fact that he was the president of a whole world or something like that.

Larek reached out to touch my arm, (okay, Birena's arm,) and shuddered. "Isabel, whatever you have to tell me, make it quick and go home RIGHT NOW. Birena is adapting well, but I can tell that your Earth brain is starting to go into oxygen starvation death."

What now? How could I explain it so quickly? "We... we need to know more about the situation here," I gasped out. "Found instructions for using the Granilith, we can use it to travel in, but don't want to let Kivar get ahold of it. So many questions, but there's no way I have time to listen to the answers. Can - can you get back to Roswell? But - but don't use Brody Davis; you probably can't. He - he had an accident, accessed your memories, and couldn't deal with them. Max had to heal him."

"I... I believe I understand the essentials," Larek said softly. "I will do what I can to help you, but there isn't time for any of it now, as you said. Go home now."

"How - how do I separate from Birena?" I gasped out. "I... I think that I could follow the resonance to my own body home through hyperspace, like I followed the memory of your essence here, Larek. But - but I used the pendant to separate from my body back there. Do - do you have another one here? Or - or is there a different way to do it, since I'm in a borrowed body and not my own?"

It wasn't hard to see a worried look cross over Larek and Veren's faces at the same time.

--------------

(Max):

"How're you doing?" I said, as I led the way up the stairs. Liz had come over for dinner with the parents, but I didn't intend to let them be around for ALL my time with her.

"Ahh, okay I guess. Missing Maria, and Ava - it's weird having them out of town, and Alex not back yet, and everything."

"Yeah, I know. It's a bit weird when Michael isn't always showing up too," I said. "They won't be too long in New York, though."

"They'd better not be."

"So, we've got over half an hour before my Mom pulls the chicken out of the oven," I said softly, closing the door to my room once we were both inside. "What now?" Liz chuckled as I sat down next to her on the bed and she kissed me eagerly.

*FLASH!* The image was simple but incredibly clear and realistic - a handsome man with chalk-gray skin and a prominent ridge above his eyebrows, sitting on an imposing silver-trimmed chair, which in turn was sitting on a raised dais. Could that chair be a throne, perhaps? Well, maybe, but not an obvious one. The man had no crown or royal scepter, or robes any of the other trappings. In fact the cut of his clothes didn't seem too far from a business suit. He wore no jewelry at all unless you counted the glasses, which weren't richly adorned frames or anything. The man nodded, a bit reluctantly, and then I was staring at Liz, who also had a flashed expression on her exquisite face. "What did you see?" I asked. No matter how in sync we are, we seldom get the same flash at the same time, I've noticed. It's like a perspective thing, never the same imagery for different brains.

"Your - your mother, Max. Or - I think she was. The same lady as we saw in the Pod Chamber, didn't look quite the same, but the resemblance was clear. Lying on a bed, with people gathered around her. Some of them were aliens... but I think one was Isabel."

"Wow," I muttered, wondering what the meaning of that might be. "As if... as if she were..."

"As if she were dying? Maybe. I'm not really sure, but it didn't really seem out of place for a deathbed gathering - or just for a sickbed. So, what about yours?"

"Umm... a guy sitting on a chair," I said. "Alien guy, kind of tough in a smart way. I guess that - that it could be Kivar."

"Boo, hiss," Liz immediately responded.

"I don't know... I mean, I don't really want Kivar to stay in charge, but I'm getting a bit less sure that he's a villain. We've read the propaganda of the old royal family, and heard the party line from Kivar's lackeys, and the truth is probably somewhere in between."

We ended up doing more talking about alien political history after that, until my Mom called up, said that dinner was almost ready, and asked me to check on Isabel since she wasn't answering. I didn't expect anything important when I opened Isabel's door and stepped inside, but the flash of alien power was impossible to mistake.

At first, it just looked like Isabel was asleep, lying on her back, on top of her covers, wearing casual day clothes. I realized that the alien power was concentrated in the rejoined whirlpool pendant, clutched to her chest, and got the shivers all over. Sure enough, as much as I shook my sister, she showed no signs of rousing - one eye fell open after a bit, but it stared out at me completely unseeing.

"Oh, god," Liz muttered, stepping up behind me. "What - what's wrong with her?"

"I... I don't know," I said, concentrating on her with my powers. I couldn't get a decent connection for healing, but my other alien senses were telling me that it probably wouldn't have helped either. Isabel's body was whole and undamaged, perfectly healthy, except for... well, even her brain wasn't hurt or damaged exactly, but brain activity in the topmost sections that handled sense perception, higher reasoning, and personality were very low and quiescent. What could have caused that, and how could I change it back? Extending my senses, I realized that some of the energy fields that I could normally perceive with ease were missing or severely faded, as if the spirit that made her the Isabel I knew and loved had - just gone somewhere else. That was as much as I could tell, and I wasn't able to make much more sense of things.

"I don't think that I can bring her around quickly," I muttered. "Maybe - maybe one of us should see what we could to do head off Mom and Dad."

"I'll see if I can sell them a quick excuse, but I'm not leaving for long and you shouldn't either," Liz said, surprising me with the vehemence and certainty in her tone. "She *needs* us. Your parents finding out wouldn't be a huge sacrifice to make if it means that she's okay."

"Hmm, alright," I said. "Do you want to know what I've figured out so far?"

"Of course." So I explained about everything that I'd sensed, from the first flash of power centering on the restored pendant.

"Alright - maybe it's a booby-trap or something. Can you sense anything actually harmful about the pendant?"

"Hmm." Considered it. "No, not malicious or... or adverse, but it -- it's dangerous. Something that - that she might have used the wrong way, and it hurt her though it wasn't meant to do that."

"Radio in the bathtub syndrome?"

"Ooh, come on." I winced at the image.

"Okay, sorry," Liz admitted. "Well, that could be it. Or - or maybe somebody sensed her using the pendant, and used a long-range alien attack to keep her from telling its secret to the rest of us?"

"Well, maybe, I guess... doesn't seem to fit with what I saw in her brain - an attack wouldn't peel off those energy layers so cleanly - it would leave debris and ragged edges behind I would think."

"Max, what's the damn holdup?" Dad called from down the hall, and I got an ice-cold sensation down my back.

"Isabel's taking her sweet time staying woken up," I called back, because it was vaguely like the truth and would explain why we were hanging around. Suddenly, to my horror, Liz leaned over the bed and took the pendant in her hand, leaving it close to Isabel but concentrating on the design fiercely.

"Liz, be careful," I muttered. "Are - are you trying to figure out what happened to..."

"No, just - had an intuitive guess about what needed to be done," she muttered. "I'm shining a light to help her find her way home."

"Home from WHERE?" I muttered. But then, it did seem to fit, that Isabel's energy, her soul, had left her body voluntarily. Where might she have gone, heedless of the dangers of not getting back on time? I waited, with bated breath, as Dad knocked on the door, and watched as he pushed the door open, a bit more slowly than I had.

"Isabel? Are... are you sure that she's just asleep?"

There was a long pause, during which I struggled to try and find the right words to say. And then a miracle happened.

Isabel groaned and half-turned over onto her side. I'd been so worried that I hadn't been watching her aura or her brainwave patterns, but both were almost normal and still recovering. It might be a little while before she was up and eating dinner, but at least she'd be okay.

Liz dropped the pendant and looked around, still a bit nervous. But she must have seen the relief in my face, because she smiled back at my Dad. "Sure I'm sure. Wonder if it's not having a summer job that makes her so lazy."

------------

"Harvard's a great school, and I'm sure there's a lot of amazing things that you could learn there," my mother told Liz. "But, well, it's such a long way from your family and the great friends that you have here, Liz. Are you sure that you want to go away for four years?"

"Mom!" Isabel exclaimed.

"What?" After looking at Isabel, she must have been able to interpret the glare quite well. "No, not because she's a girl or anything honey - I'd say the same to any of you who had their hearts set on an Ivy League place..."

"It's alright," Liz insisted. "Actually, I'm not that sure I want actually to GO to Harvard - but I'm bound and determined to earn a spot there. Then I can decide if I'm taking it or telling them I'm taking a pass."

Dad immediately hooted with laughter and appreciation at that declaration. "Oh yes. Have I mentioned that I'm starting to like you more and more these days, Liz?"

"No - and does that mean you didn't like me so much when Max first met me, Mister Evans?"

"Don't call me Mister Evans any more, really. Would 'Phil' be too much to ask for?"

Liz hesitated, and then somebody knocked on the front door. After a silent moment, Mom got up and answered it - and brought Tess and Kyle into the front hall. "Umm, sorry to break up the party," Tess said, "but I needed to talk to, err..."

"Maybe it's about time we tackled the dishes, anyway," Dad said in a low, slightly regretful voice. A lot of dinner had been strained in a way that Mom and Dad had obviously been unable to account for, and things had only just really started to loosen up when the moment had been lost.

"Yeah, thanks Mom," Isabel said when she saw her nod agreement. "Hopefully it'll go better tomorrow, with Alex's welcome home shindig."

"One can only hope," my mother said philosophically. And then Isabel made a quick round of the younger people in attendance, nodding meaningfully at each of us, before leading the way up to her room.

"Okay, here's what happened," she whispered once Kyle had closed the door behind him. "I - I went to another world, Rahlicx. Like the way that Larek comes here. I talked with him briefly, and he's going to try to get back here or send us word some other way. It was probably stupid, and I could have killed some poor girl in the Autarch's palace and ended up a vegetable, but..."

"I... I'm not sure that 'stupid' quite covers it," I said, shocked. This was the first opportunity that Isabel had had to tell Liz or I what had happened. "Why, why didn't you at least wait tell one of us..."

"I don't really know," Isabel admitted, "unless the exhilaration of putting the pendant back together and figuring out what it was for was affecting my judgment. Probably nobody else should get as deeply into resonance with it as I did, just in case."

"You put the pendant back together?" Kyle asked.

"Yeah, maybe you'd better start at the top, Isabel," Liz suggested.

"One question first," I said. "How did you guys know to come by?" This was directed at Tess and Kyle. "Or was there some other issue you wanted our help with?"

"No, Liz called me, said we'd better come by around eight thirty," Tess said. "And that something had happened to Isabel, but she was okay now."

"Alright, let's see," Isabel said. And she told us the whole story - how she'd been trying to figure out the importance of the pendant, realized the impressive properties it gained when joined together using molecular knitting, and ended up using it to pay a visit to Larek. She went into a lot of details about her experience at the palace, what it was like to have her soul sharing somebody else's body, her conversations with the Court Healer Smeet, and her brief conversation with Larek.

"He's going to get pissed at us soon," Kyle joked. "Bothering him for every little thing."

"The Gandarium trying to wipe out life on Earth was not 'little'," Isabel snapped, not getting the joke. "And this thing - I admit that no worlds hang in the balance, but we've got a decision to make that will affect our entire lives and not enough information about at least one of the choices."

"Actually, it might affect the course of at least one world," Liz put in. "If Max is still considered a King figure on Antar and his people are waiting for his return to set them free or whatever..."

"Well, no point in worrying about that unless some strange guy shows up and says that he's Larek," I pointed out. "Pretty sure that you're right, Isabel - he wouldn't be able to use Larek as a host anymore and it might be a bad thing if he were to try."

"What does it take for somebody to be a host, though?" Kyle asked. "I mean, if Isabel was able to just pop into the body of this Birena girl..."

"And nearly killed her, if Veren hadn't been there," Isabel pointed out. "Plus, since Birena lived in the Autarch's palace, maybe she was on standby for someone else to use her body on business - the leader of one of the other planets, for instance. They didn't recognize that she was abducted right away, but I didn't arrive at a pre-arranged time, and I didn't announce myself according to the usual protocol, whatever that might be..."

"Yeah," I said. "So how *did* they get you home to us?"

"Well... they didn't have anything exactly like the pendant on hand, but Larek was able to get his hands on something that was an aid to concentration that he thought might help. And I was trying really hard, and I managed to separate from Birena, and I was trying to follow resonance back to my own body, but I couldn't really sense it anymore. Then I sort of saw a bright blue light shining, and headed for it, and bang, I was over Roswell and homing in on our house, with the blue light just dying out over it. I'm convinced that was you, Liz, using the pendant to give me a signal."

"I'm just glad that something worked," Liz said modestly. "If I really did help out, then great."

I waited around unobtrusively until Isabel went to sleep, a deep but natural slumber, and then took care of one thing that I felt had to be done before the day was out, and since Isabel had not taken it upon herself, (and I'd been watching for any signs of her taking a private moment for this,) it seemed to fall to me. That was calling Alex and letting him know that Alex was okay, without going into enough details to really scare him, or more than I should admit on a phone line that might just conceivably be tapped. He was pretty confused at the start, but ended up getting the message okay. (It probably added to the confusion that he saw the call answer for our private line and thought I was Isabel when he first picked up.)

------------

(Liz):

Alex came home today, finally - a bit earlier than he'd expected, because Luis made things so easy for him, but it's been so long since I've seen him really that it felt like even longer. I dropped a few hints about having a party of some kind to celebrate his return, and he mentioned that he'd love a pool party, but couldn't because nobody in the gang really has a backyard pool. (To look at the front of the Harding-DeLuca-Valenti place, you'd think that it would have one, but I guess Nasedo didn't care about stuff like that, and if Tess did, I'm not sure how much weight her opinions had.)

But Isabel seems to have latched onto the idea with her trademarked selfless stubbornness, and I'm sure that a pool party will be thrown. No idea where, or when, but I know to get out of her way - or help out, if she asks for help, in this kind of mood. Michael and Maria should be back from New York by tomorrow, and Maria will love getting into the pool party spirit. Ava will probably have fun too; Michael will pretend that he isn't...

As the four of us wandered through the park together, (Max was the fourth, I didn't mention him yet did I? Oops,) Isabel explained again about how she'd come to take her crazy trip to another planet, reconnecting the two parts of the Whirlpool pendant and realizing that it had the power to send her mind to other places.

It was interesting to hear a second version of the tale - the first time, Isabel had still been quite shaken by all that she'd been through, and that nervousness, (unusual for her, but understandable given the unusual circumstances,) had colored most of her descriptions, making her repeat herself and focus on probably-insignificant trivia while forgetting more important details. Now, she was clearly much more in charge of herself and more composed about the whole thing, downplaying the risks that she had accidentally undertaken and the danger of her feat. Probably she was more concerned about Alex being worried for her in retrospect than anyone else around her.

"Okay, so, if we trust Larek to keep his word, which I think that we do on principle and because of the way he's behaved on previous encounters, then we expect him to get word to us somehow, but don't really know how or when," Alex summarized. "He might be able to come here in a human body again, though probably not through Brody, but he might just as likely find some other way to institute communication - there might be some alien agent here on Earth working for Larek, who he might choose to send a message through. Or who knows."

"An alien agent?" Max said, seeming a bit surprised and curious about the notion. "Like the Skins were working for Kivar?"

"Along those lines, yeah," Alex agreed. "Probably not as many as the Skins in Copper Summit."

"Yeah, it does make sense," I put in. "We don't really know what the requirements for mentally 'abducting' someone are - I mean, Isabel, you did it without any prep-work on Rahlicx, but not well, and that girl might or might not have been already prepped for other Very Important Aliens. I think I find it easier to believe that someone actually in New Jersey was involved in what happened to Brody Davis on the turnpike, than that Larek was able to do it all from another planet with his own powers."

"I'm pretty excited about all of the wedding hoopla by this point," I had to admit after a moment. "You guys are all going to come, right? I know that you each got invitations..."

"Oh, sure, yeah," Isabel said, and Max and Alex both rolled their eyes slightly, realizing that her 'sure' was committing both of them to going for certain. "Understand about the whole wedding party deal - it's still just a small ceremony, right?"

"Well, pretty small," I agreed. "Something like fifty or sixty people counting the wedding party and all the invited guests." Decided to try needling Alex just a bit more. "You've *got* to come look at the chapel before the dress rehearsal, Isabel - it's just gorgeous."

-------------

Max drove me home, and the two of us were oddly quiet. Wanting to bring up a new subject, I suddenly said, "What was Larek like, the time you met him in New York?? I mean, personally. Anything like Brody?"

"Hmm - not really, though it's a bit hard to keep them separate, with the same face, and so on." He sighed. "Guess that's going to be especially weird if Larek shows up inside another 'abductee'." He didn't say anything as we parked in the Crashdown lot. "He wouldn't put up with any of Nicholas' nonsense in the negotiations, and he was the only one there who really treated me with any kindness or concern. It was a bit weird to talk with him, mostly because it was obvious how little he understood about life here on Earth, but... there was one bit at the end, where he said something about how much I reminded him of Zan. That was after I pretty much told Nicholas to go stuff Kivar's offer up his butt and go back where he came from, and got all the other leaders upset with me. From the words Larek was saying, he was sort of telling me off too, or dressing me down, like a teacher who's disappointed in the progress of his favorite student. Said that Zan failed in what he tried to accomplish while he was king because he tried to do too much too soon, and history was repeating itself. But - but even though I hated being spoken to like that, I could... could sense how much he'd cared for Zan. It isn't so hard for me to see why he was Zan's best friend."

"Wow," I said, trying to digest all of this. "I didn't realize you felt that way, when we called on him to help with the Gandarium."

"Yeah, well, we weren't really sharing a lot of stuff back then, were we?"

"Nope. I hope that I get another chance to meet him."

"Me too." We got out of the Jeep, and kissed goodnight. Unlike any other night, we didn't really get carried away with the making out, just shared one really good kiss and said goodnight, and I headed upstairs. I guess that's it.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

(Tess):

"Alright, glad you guys made it," Isabel said from the deck. I followed the others and looked with a slightly impressed expression at the outdoor pool sunk into the deck. "Everybody else is here - well, except for Michael. Go figure."

"Alright," Maria said. "What about... the proprietor?"

"I told you," Isabel insisted. "Brody agreed to clear out for the whole thing when I asked to use his place. I'm sure he doesn't want to get a reputation for ogling high school girls running around in -- really small bikinis. And on that note, hi Ava, nice to see you."

"Though we didn't expect to see quite that MUCH of you," Alex wisecracked from next to Isabel. Ava had already taken off the see-through shirt and was in the process of peeling her cut-offs down her thighs. The bikini bottom underneath wasn't QUITE just a string, but... well, anyway.

"Come on," Ava said, pressing close up against Kyle. "Let's try out the pool." Faced with an invitation like that, it shouldn't be too surprising that Kyle shucked off his clothes as quickly as he could - and then remembered too late that he DIDN'T have his swim trunks on under his pants, just boxer shorts. "Umm, maybe I should go change... inside or something."

"Oh, fine, if you wanna be that way," Ava said, turning away from him with a theatrical smile on her face.

"There isn't a pool house, is there?" Maria asked.

"No, the place is fancy, but not quite that 'Dynasty', or whatever," Liz said. "But going inside should be fine." Kyle was already opening the patio doors and stepping carefully in. "Just don't poke around in anything that obviously isn't your business, hint-hint!"

"So, what's on the agenda?" I asked. "Enjoying the pool, grabbing some grub at some point, sounds great - is there going to be any more structure to the event than that?"

"Are you hungry?" Isabel asked solicitously.

"Actually, a bit." I took out the last cracker that I hadn't eaten on the way over from the front pocket of my shorts and considered it for a moment, and then devoured it. "Headed over right after morning shift at the Crash, so I didn't really have time for lunch."

"Oh." Isabel looked around a bit awkwardly. "Not sure about the rest of you knew people - we'd sort of figured that we didn't need to order food for two hours or so, but if you're really that hungry."

"No, don't worry about it, I'll be o--" I stopped as Isabel shot me a 'cut the bull' look. "Okay, yeah, it'd probably be good to get something more in me before then, but I don't really want to inconvenience everyone else."

"Would it be really a bad thing to raid Brody's kitchen?" Maria suggested. "Just for a little snack?"

"Hmm." Max weighed that against the other possibilities. "Yeah, worth a try. Even though you said that we'd be ordering in food, Isabel, he probably expects that. I'll offer to make it up if Tess happens to scarf down one of his favorites without realizing it."

"Okay." I looked at Max and Ava. "You guys probably know him best from working at the Center, so maybe you should come with me?" I thought about that. "And Maria too?"

"You just figure he won't get so mad if he knew that she was in on it?" Ava laughed. "Okay, alright."

So soon enough, I was set up with one of those instant mugs of dried chicken-veggie-noodle soup, and a small but reasonably filling sandwich, and was eating and sipping out on the deck, well pleased with the results of the 'raid.' Getting back to the question of activities for the day," Alex said with a smile, "maybe we can organize a game out in the pool." Kyle had finished changing by this point, and the two of them were swimming about and splashing each other."

"Water polo?" I wondered, pointing to a plastic ball down on the grass.

"I dunno, it's a bit small for a polo pool," Max said, "and I never really liked playing that in gym class anyway."

"Yeah, I have some sort of a weird feeling about water polo, like it's a submerged psychological trauma," Isabel said.

"Oh, lordy," Maria put in. "Well, how about pool volleyball or something?"

"Is there a net we can set up?" Alex said, sounding curious about the prospect.

"There's netting over there, in the corner," Maria said, pointing more to the side of the deck than any corner, but oh well. "And you clever hybrids can rig up something to hang it from, now can't you?"

It wasn't quite as easy to do as she'd said, of course, especially considering that we couldn't really leave any evidence of alien powers for Brody to find later. But eventually two metal poles were molecularly fused into the sides of the deck, and an appropriate amount of net strung between them. Michael showed up in the middle of all this, and his arrival distracted Maria so much that she fell off the pole, (she'd been working on hanging the highest level of the net, with Kyle steadying her,) but she was okay after surfacing in the pool.

"Okay, so how do we work this?" Liz asked, looking at the nine of us and passing the ball idly from hand to hand.

"Guys versus girls," Kyle immediately declared, as irrepressible as ever. "Toss a coin for first serve."

There were a few uncertain looks about this, but everyone ended up going with the suggestion, mostly because it seemed simpler than choosing captains first or any other division. Nobody had a coin at this point, (everybody having changed into swimsuits or stripped down,) and Liz went back up to where she'd left her purse to fetch out a penny - which then landed in the pool the first time she tossed it, and so on. Eventually the guys won the right to first 'serve' fairly, and we started the play.

Of course, the relationship to real volleyball was somewhat vague, especially because regular 'bumps' and 'serves' couldn't be done in the water. Serving usually consisted of taking the ball in both your hands and tossing/heaving it over the net, and then each side had three touches or tips to try to get the ball to land in the water on the other side of the net, not in the water on their side, or anywhere on the deck.

It was a lot of fun, actually.

------------

Maria told us all of some of their adventures in New York while we were waiting for the pizza, and continued spinning the tale after it had finally arrived. To my surprise, Lonnie turned up again; in a bus station where Ava had been recovering some 'cache items' that she thought might happen. At first, there had been a slightly tense confrontation, and some defensiveness on Lonnie's part about the agreement that she'd made to stay out of our way after we let her go the last time. (Personally, this time I sided with her on that particular point - she had had no warning that the three of them would come to New York, so it was plausibly a coincidence, nobody's fault.) When Maria had mentioned what brought them to town, Lonnie had offered to help them out, as a goodwill gesture of friendship, saying that she'd been starting to feel alone and a bit jumpy after losing the only alien friends and allies that she'd had. Talked about establishing a regular check-in, so that if something happened to her, the rest of us would know that there was trouble, and that kind of thing.

Of course, Lonnie being the chick that we all know, there had been a double-cross in the scenario. Somehow, she'd manage to steal the Gem of Kindarra ring from Maria's finger, and make a getaway out of the brownstone window where they'd been. Once Maria realized what she'd lost, Michael and Ava took off in hot pursuit, had finally cornered Lonnie and taken the alien relic back AGAIN. At that point, she hadn't really been able to come up with anything else to ramble on about.

"Hmm, we need something else to do while we eat," Ava said, pulling some pizza cheese between her fingers and looking around Brody's back yard.

There was some attempt to get a truth or dare game going, but it bogged down in rules-lawyering and not many people seemed to have their hearts in it. We had nearly settled on charades when Michael called out that we needed to find paper and pen and make it picture charades.

Before Liz could even shake her head and groan, though, Isabel gasped in shock and toppled off the pool ladder, where she had been sitting, into the water. Alex was by her side in moments, helping steady her and make sure that she hadn't swallowed any water. "Is something wrong?" he asked.

"No, just - just unexpected," Isabel gasped out. "Larek -- Larek is coming HERE. I don't even know how I know... but he'll be here in just a couple of minutes!"

Everyone kind of looked at each other and around the peaceful scene, hardly able to grasp that eerie pronouncement. "Well, no time to get dressed, I guess," Michael muttered, and Maria swatted him.

"I wonder if Rahlicxians like spicy meatball and hot red pepper pizza," Ava wondered out loud.

------------

(Alex):

It was a tense few moments before somebody made his way to the backyard fence door, worked the little metal lever, and entered. I nearly laughed out loud - of all faces for an alien ruler to take when visiting the Earth, a short, pudgy, sixty-ish guy with shaggy dark hair and dusky Hispanic skin wouldn't have been what I'd expected. He scanned the group of us. "Max? Isabel??"

"Hello - Larek?" Max hazarded. Larek nodded and came in.

"It was a bit difficult to find you," Larek said testily. "Not at any of your homes, jobs, or even regular hangouts. Considered tracing your energy signatures, but I hadn't remembered to bring along a Tritium resonator and didn't have the spare energy to do the trace unassisted."

"So - how did you end up getting here?" Liz asked.

Larek turned to look at Liz closely for a long moment before answering the question. "Went and asked at the Evans house. Used a tiny mental lean to get an answer that Diane probably wouldn't have given to a stranger, and to make sure that she won't remember the incident very clearly. Is - is there some reason for the unusual outfits?"

Isabel laughed out loud. "It's a pool party, Larek," she said, gesturing to the pool itself. "Social event with swimming and other water sports being a central focus. Because Alex has come home from - the place he was working on translating the book."

"Oh, I see," Larek considered the pool. "Seems like you wouldn't be able to enjoy as much of a variety of water sports as in the... but then, you don't have any oceans around Roswell, and precious few rivers or lakes."

"Yeah," Maria agreed. "Just the Frazier valley stream, pretty much. Hi Larek, it's very nice to meet you. Maria DeLuca."

"Hello," Larek said evenly, and he took a seat on the porch when Max gestured to the chairs there. "So - Isabel. I've given a lot of thought to the things that you asked me about when you popped across for a visit, and if it's handled well, I actually think that this would be a very good time for some or all of the reborn Royal Four to suddenly appear again on Antar, with the Granilith."

There was a hush after that pronouncement. "Okay, so how should we handle it best?" Max asked. "Land right in Kivar's court and dare him to arrest us or take the Granilith back? Find somewhere secret to hide where no one will find us immediately and spread rumors about our own arrival? Or maybe..."

"Quiet, please," Larek said. "Apologies, but it's still a bit hard to phrase things in a human language." He only paused in silence for a few seconds. "Neither, quite. Arriving in a situation where Kivar has authority and great numbers of troops at his disposal is, obviously, overconfident. However, Liaretian supporters - that is, loyalists for the old royal family of which Zan, Vilandra, and their father Sanren were part - have gathered together and defended the northern plains of Tilles continent, on Antar, across the Plantan ocean from the great capital city, and I would advise that you should set your course there and join them. The old queen mother, Alinda, is not on Antar but some secret estate in a somewhat distant star system, but her stand-in will be at Tilles, and also younger members of the Royal family, children of those who survived Kivar's purges."

"So Max and I aren't the last remaining heirs of the crown?" Isabel put in. "How will that figure into the rules of succession? Do we take precedence? Who was older, out of Zan and Vilandra, anyway?"

"Vilandra was elder, by a year and a half, but would not have taken precedence over the first-born son," Larek said. "Traditional thing."

"Discrimination by sex," Maria shot back impulsively.

"More or less." Larek got back to the issue. "Public opinion and the Granilith would be the keys to deposing Kivar without drowning the planet, even the entire interstellar neighborhood, in blood, Max. One good thing, though, is that what you did at the Summit in New York has already set the stage of winning the people over to your banner."

"The summit?" Max asked. "I totally bombed over there - you told me so. I got the leaders of three whole planets pissed off at me..."

"I warned you that you had been rash, to speak as you did," Larek admitted, with a sad look on his face. "You were, but sometimes rashness meets with good outcomes. The planetary heads of Breeol, Gevina, and Taliernar would still not like you, I'd hazard a guess - but then, Breeolyn are not known for their tendency to like anybody, even each other most of the time. The people, even some of the important faction leaders on Antar and the other planets, respect the truth of what you had to say, though."

"If they hadn't, that'd make them idiots," Liz suddenly volunteered. "I mean, really! Kivar offered to make Max a puppet king without any true power, and in return, he wanted Max to call for all the Liaretians to give up fighting and Max to hand over the Granilith. Even if he'd stuck by that bargain, it wouldn't have been a good deal for Max, and it wouldn't have been a good decision to make for the people who trusted him. I don't even think it would have been very good for the other people involved in the fighting, but that makes less of a difference. It's only fair for him to look out for his own group first, as long as he's willing to work for a fair peace next."

"And if Max had said, 'Okay guys, give up fighting,' and they didn't, because seriously who would," Michael chimed in, "that would give Kivar a great opportunity to say that Max wasn't living up to the deal, and bump him off, right?"

"Yes, all of these are things that have been said over and over, on Antar and Rahlicx, and likely elsewhere," Larek agreed. "The deal was an unfair and unwise one, and you did show courage and resolve to refuse it so firmly, Max. More than I gave you credit for at the time, in fact." Max smiled. "If you follow that up by returning the Granilith to the Liaretian supporters on the home-world and lead by example in carefully defying Kivar's rule, then the balance of power may begin slowly to shift. Kivar is not well placed to immediately attack the North Tilles area with full force, and any delay would be seen as a sign of weakness. As the public and minor power factions turn against them, Kivar's own sworn vassals will likely turn against him to save their own skins."

"Alright, I have to admit, I do like the way that that sounds, a little," Max said, and sighed. "There's still a lot to talk about though. How long can you stay here, this time? And - does your host body need food? We've got plenty of pizza."

"Humm." Larek stared at the open box that he proffered and seemed to be considering for a long time. It didn't seem like he recognized the word or the food, and was trying to judge what kind of an experience he was in for. "Alright." He took one slice out into his hand and bit off the point. "Not bad. So... what's next?"

"How about... you and the royal four, back on Antar?" Tess asked. "Especially... Zan. We know that you were old friends. We need to know a lot about... them, to figure out how to move against Kivar, and what kind of a reception we'll get back there."

"But, when you arrive, you'll consult with the local leaders of the Liaretian government-in-exile," Larek protested. "They'll be the ones - well, planning the strategy. Your input will be considered, but--"

"But we need to know what kind of strategy they might have in mind for us, before deciding if we'll go for it," Max said. "Come on, just tell me the story. Let's not worry about the rest."

"Alright." Larek stretched out a bit and took some more pizza. "Well, we met when I was about... umm, in human terms, ten or eleven years old. I was already an Autarch-in-training for the Planetary Dominion of Rahlicx, and King Sanren of Antar organized a foster brother scheme with the Rahlicx republic, because Zan was around my age, and he saw a lot of value in the two of us spending time with each other as we grew into our responsibilities."

"And you were selected, the Autarchs are always selected, on the basis of computerized test scores?" I put in. "That was mentioned in the books. So based on some standardized test, they put you into a unique track at your school, training you to become the chief administrator for the whole planet."

"That's the way of it, yes," he agreed. "In fact, I was taken to a different school, with frequent trips back home to see my family and so on. But you wanted to know about me meeting the Royal Four."

"Yes, we did," Michael agreed.

"Well... I first saw any of them in the welcoming committee at the Royal Castle's landing field," he said, sounding very nostalgic. "There was a small group of young people, including all of the children in the Royal family, some family of trusted councilors and staff members, and a few other kids who had already been invited over as suitable companions. Zan, Vilandra, and Rath were together near the front. Ava, as you might or might know, didn't come until much later."

"Was... were Rath's parents among the help, or was he an invitee?" Michael asked.

"Mostly an invitee - his father sometimes consulted with Sanren and the Royal Council in person, but he wasn't around the Castle full-time. He was minor nobility, and had other affairs to manage back home - which, as it happens, was also in North Tilles."

"So that's where we'd be going, Rath's home ground?" Michael confirmed, smiling, and looking over at Maria. She put her hand on top of his.

"Yes. His family, the house of Selezir, was a large part of the reason why the friends of the old Royal Family are welcome and safe there."

"But why didn't Kivar attack them long ago?" Ava asked.

"A couple of reasons, that I know of. He has had a lot of enemies to worry about, ever since overthrowing the Liarets and claiming the throne. And the Selezir's rangers are much more at home in the wilder lands than his troops are - able to hide between one stone and the next, and shoot as soon as your back is turned. Kivar would have to bombard a huge area from orbit to be sure, and apparently he never wanted to resort to such measures. Now that there are fortified underground shelters in Tilles, probably even that wouldn't be enough."

Nuke 'em from orbit, I thought with an inappropriate mental chuckle. It's the only way to be sure. "Okay, so back to you, Zan, Rath, and Vilandra as kids," I said. "We probably don't want hours and hours worth of stories, just impressions and a few standout moments."

He did end up telling stories for nearly an hour, actually, and most of the time we were all rapt enough to not notice the time passing. Each story was fairly insightful... from school lessons with the Royal tutors, to juvenile shenanigans played out in the corridors of the castle long after their lights were supposed to be out, to camping trips out on the great grasslands and some kind of a sledding holiday in the mountains. Zan and Larek had visited Rahlicx together after a few years, and on the trip back some dissident faction had attacked the spaceship, sending it down in a rough landing near a small Antarian town. Zan's two surviving bodyguards, worried that there might be collaborators on the spot, that the dissidents had intended to bring them down exactly at that spot, had refused to let the boys go into town for help, or to take orders to go for help themselves, and had even held would-be good Samaritans back at gunpoint until a confirmed Royal rescue airship was dispatched to the scene. Even though an investigation had revealed no evidence of co-conspirators in the area, the bodyguards had been commended for their caution and for the boys' safe return.

"Zan met Ava when we were all three... well, stumbling headlong into adolescence," Larek said with another of those fond remember-ey smiles. "She was a socialite from the capital city, daughter of a well-placed construction magnate, and friends with the kinds of superficial, arrogant heiresses who I could never really stand. But after I met Ava, and introduced Zan to her at his request, I started to realize that she wasn't really one of the flock of paper-thin songbirds. She had a shy streak about two feet wide, and was involved in a... well, a sort of political cause, advocating the resettling of refugees from war refugees that had arrived at the Antarian sector from some distant calamity of war. She certainly never thought that she was the right sort to be a Royal Bride before that night, or schemed to attract Zan's eye - but when his parents found out that he was infatuated with a young lady from that background, they made a point of finding out about her, and found her a suitable potential match, I guess. Ava was formally invited to court, and King Sanren took up the issue of the refugees personally, though he couldn't simply order them resettled without winning a vote on the issue in his Royal Council."

"At about this point, Rath made his move, formally asking the King in front of the whole court if he had permission to court Vilandra. Think that took Sanren by surprise, because I'd never seen the man stall for time like that before." At this point in the story, Isabel suddenly squeezed my hand in hers, and I thought I knew why. Were we going to get Larek's perspective on the whole Vilandra scandal? "But - well, as firstborn daughter, Vilandra had already been manipulated by Sanren's enemies, who thought that winning her hand might strengthen their influence to use against her father."

"Like Kivar," Max guessed.

"Yes, first and foremost that one. Vilandra was... a somewhat free-spirited girl, and I think that she was torn between resenting all the attention of her royal post and being flattered by the charm with which such men attempted to woo her. So Rath's suit was politically expedient - he was fiercely loyal to Zan and his family, and so... I'm not sure, but I think that Vilandra's parents persuaded her to assent to the betrothal. She wasn't deeply in love with Rath, as he was, but liked him well enough, and resigned to grow into an affectionate marriage slowly."

"But Kivar had already used more tricks on her than anyone suspected, maybe," I said, hoping that it was the right thing to say and wouldn't upset Isabel any further. "Was he well trained in using his powers to affect the minds of others?"

"A master, easily. Kivar and Sanren first rivaled because the King had outlawed the teaching or practice of mental combat and persuasion techniques that Kivar had originated." Like 'the mind rape.' No need to mention that out loud. "And yes, I think the same, that Kivar had already planted such suggestions deep within Vilandra's subconscious mind, that she could not help but arrange secret meetings with him if he wished it so."

"And if Kivar wanted it to seem as if Vilandra had betrayed her brother and her fiancée, out of love for him - then she would do what he needed her to do," Michael said scathingly. "We do need to teach that bastard a serious lesson. There is one other thing, though. You mentioned how loyal Rath was - I heard about a plan to defuse the crisis by putting him up as a compromise leader, one who..."

"Not that Courtney nonsense again, honey?" Maria said. "Sorry, sweetie - I love you very much, but you're not The Big Man like that."

"No offense, but I'd tend to agree," Larek said, and Michael made a face. "I wasn't there when a few court moderates proposed that plan and called on Rath to take his place, but... it was a crackpot scheme. Rath made the only decision he could to refuse to go along with it... not just out of loyalty, but logical judgment of the good of the planet, and self-interest. Either Kivar's or the Liaretian hard-liners might have killed him first if he'd tried it. There wasn't enough support for a compromise, moderate republican leader like that."

"Ah, okay," Michael mumbled. "Just wanted to make sure about that part."

"Another tricky detail that's always bothered me," Max said. "Sanren - just how did he die? I've always suspected Kivar of being involved there, but it didn't sound like anyone had ever called it an outright and obvious assassination."

"Well, it was obviously an assasination, but not so clearly Kivar's doing," Larek said, sighing. "This, too, was after I was back on Rahlicx, training in one of the executive departments of the planet. But - Sanren had travelled to the province of Grawti, near the southern sea about the Antarian pole, to arbitrate a protracted dispute between a powerful mining corporation and striking workers. There was a diversion, with a carefully arranged fake threat to distract the Royal bodyguards. While they were escorting his Majesty to a place of safety, a bolt of power shot out from a hiding place and fractured Sanren's skull. One of the guard was a healer of moderate strength, but he was attacked as well and could not complete his working in time." Larek scowled. "It was a very negative mark on the prestige of those Royal guards. The initial impression was that it was maverick miners who were worried about the Royal army being sent in to order them back to work, but my twice-predecessor as Rahlicx Autarch made his own investigation, and shared the results with Zan and myself. The entire operation had been planned very carefully, and two of the guard had been suborned to leak the contingency plans and change the filed duty schedule without letting their fellows know."

"Pretty clever plan, yeah," Kyle muttered unhappily. "Okay, my turn, even though I don't think I'm at all likely to go along with this thing. How are any of you going to learn the language, if you decide to go to Antar?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "We have the Antarian-English translation dictionary from the book, but that doesn't have any information on how the words are actually spoken - and anyway, trying to learn a whole language from those kinds of resources without having other speakers to practice on..."

"We can learn by immersion, once we get to Antar," Max suggested. "There have to be some people with the Liaretians who have learned how to use touch connection techniques to speed language learning. It seems an obvious application."

"Yes, but I think you have an easier way available to you," Larek said with a smile.

"What's that?" Tess demanded.

"The Granilith itself?" Michael guessed. "Just how much CAN it do?"

"I'm not going to start into a history of that impressive relic," Larek said. "Or what I think its known powers are. But - in the book, are there instructions for activating the Granilith key in static mode, or something of that sort?"

"Yes," Isabel and Max agreed at once.

"Try that, when you next have a chance. AFTER giving me a window to get home, not that I think you're likely to do anything to disrupt the travel of my spirit, but - well, then I have deniability in case anybody ever accuses me of aiding you in experimenting with the Granilith's powers. You may need that Antarian-English dictionary to understand its displays at first, but not for long." He sighed. "My time is growing short. What else?"

"Just who are the important people in Kivar's organization and other nearby planets?" Max asked.

"Do you know anything about the biology of partially Antarian human hybrids?" Maria chimed in at the same time.

"How are they likely to treat us when we get there?" Tess added afterwards.

"Both hybrids and humans?" Liz clarified.

"Do you know anything about the Gem of Kindarra?" Michael put in, and looked sheepishly around at everyone else who had asked.

"Oh, boy," Larek sighed. "I'm not sure I have time for all of that."

----------

There was indeed a lot still to talk about, and Larek begged off with the expected explanations about his host's state of health and his own mental strength long before my friends and I ran out of questions. My own head was spinning with all that we'd heard before the end of it - so I mostly just sat there next to Isabel and kept my arm around her. She seemed to appreciate that as a gesture of support.

Oh - and Brody Davis showed up, and was a bit surprised at the stranger there on his deck. Guess he'd probably figured that we'd be out of there by that point - not sure what Isabel had told him about that. Max and Liz traded a look, and then Max said, "Hey, Brody - this is Larek. Larek, Brody Davis." Brody seemed stunned by the name, but not really knowing where or how to place it, so he greeted Larek and went back inside.

"You did a pretty good job of healing him, Max," Larek said approvingly. "I'm sorry that things got out of hand with him with that electrical shock - no offense, but you humans shouldn't be fooling around with direct human-computer connections until you learn an awful lot more about biochemistry and neurology."

"Was that what it was?" Liz asked. "When he said virtual reality, I thought it was - just a helmet with special stereo earphones, gyro sensors, and a liquid crystal screen, hooked up to the computer system. Was he directly connecting the computer outputs to his brain somehow?"

"Pretty close, I think," Larek replied. "Might be secret reverse-engineered technology from the crashed ship. Figures that somebody like Brody would have access to it." Larek chuckled. "I took advantage of that myself, while his brain was still open to me."

"Speaking of alien abductions," Isabel put in, "since you've been hinting that you'll have to go again before too long... is there any way that we can get back in touch with you? Though the whirlpool pendant was effective enough to get a bat-signal to you, it doesn't look like we'll have the opportunity to really train to use it right..."

"Sorry, excuse me?" Larek put in. "A... a bat signal? Is this a reference to sonar calls specifically?"

Most of us broke out laughing at that one. "Cultural reference, man," Michael put in. "Batman, the comic book hero. He's sort of a folk literary figure, in a way. The local police commissioner summons him by shining a bright light with a distinctive outline against the sky."

"Hmm... that doesn't sound like it would be effective on a clear, starry night," Larek said thoughtfully. "Or during the day."

"I think that he can shine it on big buildings at night," Maria replied. "And you never need to call Batman during the day. That's part of his modus operandi."

"Okay, alright," Larek said, shrugging. "Getting back to the original question... I did prepare for that request, Isabel." He reached out and passed a small shiny orb to her. "One of the simplest and most reliable models of interstellar communicators. Not impossible to tap into, but I doubt that Kivar's people will notice if you don't overuse it. Whichever of those three color buttons you press will also show up on the matching unit back at my headquarters. The red and blue lights simply activate for a seconds or so and then fade, while the white will remain on until a red or blue is signaled on one of the two units, and can be repeated to light a brighter and brighter beacon signal for emergencies, up to five times I believe."

"Okay," Isabel said, trying the buttons just to test them, and judging what the triple white signal looked like outside in the summer evening - not that impressive, but noticeable. "And just what kind of a signal can we send with red and blue lights?"

"You'd need a code system," Alex said, "but I don't think that we know any of the ones that would be established on Rahlicx. Even the book doesn't have that kind of appendix."

"No, but I've acquired some information on a usable Earth code - standard international Morse code," Larek said, and I could see Liz's face light up as she saw how that applied. "Red for a dot, blue for a dash. I won't be able to watch my end personally, but somebody trusted on my personal or communications staff will keep an eye on it whenever possible, and the full code will be available. This is the best I was able to come up with on short notice."

"It's appreciated, definitely," Max said. "Um - one other thing. Queen Alinda - you said that she wasn't on Antar. Do you happen to know - where, and if she's in good or poor health? When we got the recorded message from her a year ago this past spring - well, if we're going to head over to that part of the galaxy, I'd hate to not have a chance to meet her."

"I believe that she's doing fairly well, considering her age and some of the... well, she's hale enough," Larek put in. "The name of the planet won't mean much to you, but it's a safe Sanctuary where Kivar doesn't even suspect that the Liaretians have a base of support. If you can take care of him, then she'll get her reunion, and vice versa."

"Except I think that all of us have come to the conclusion that we aren't the royal kids she lost, not really," Isabel put in. "We have some resemblance, but aren't the same people. Even - well..." She looked over at Tess.

"No, even I'm on board with that," Tess said reluctantly. "Much as I'd like to be, I'm not really the genuine Queen Ava, just... a reasonably good imitation."

"Imitation nothing," Liz unexpectedly piped up. (Well, I hadn't called it beforehand.) "You're a brand new and amazing person, Tess, half regal alien queen and half - sweet human orphan." Tess considered this and nodded very slightly.

"So, is there anything else?" Larek asked, and each of us tried to think of anything. We had the maps that he'd drawn of Antar which sketched out the suggested landing zone, and just about any point short of idle curiosity had been addressed over the course of the visit.

"Oh, yes, one thing!" Michael suddenly remembered. "Do you have any intelligence on other aliens here on Earth, I mean physically here? We know that Lonnie's probably still in New York, but aside from her..."

"What about Nicholas and Rath?" Larek asked. "I haven't had traces of their activity recently, but wasn't able to find out if anything happened to them."

"We happened to them," Max said, actually sounding modest. "Or, well, they captured us and tried to torture the Granilith's secret out of us. Lonnie was in on it too. But with Ava's help, we were able to turn the tables. Nicholas and Rath - were killed, and Lonnie surrendered and agreed not to challenge us openly again."

"Alright, that fits," Larek said. "But to answer your own question, Michael, let's see now... Kivar's last reserve squad of Skins evacuated the planet during the Gandarium threat, and probably they're still in His Presumptive Majesty's dungeons for showing cowardice in the line of duty. Nicholas tried to get aboard the emergency return ship, and was refused access, because he'd lost his Copper Summit followers, and failed to nab you at the Summit, which was probably why he was desperate enough to team up with Lonnie and Rath again."

"Okay, I guess that's good news," Ava said. "Kivar doesn't have anybody here on Earth? Like really here the whole time?"

"Not as far as I know," Larek qualified. "In fact - well, there's one Breeol observer, a shape shifter, who was in Moscow, about two weeks ago, and is probably there still. And then, there's my own Girl Friday, Christin - or that's the name she uses here."

"You have an agent here on Earth yourself?" Isabel said, blinking. "I... why didn't you just send her here in your stead? Or... well, when the Gandarium..."

"I don't really have the time to explain," he said. "This time, it didn't seem like the advantages of delegating were worth the effort. And last March - well, Christin was working on a backup plan in the event that the Gandarium did manage to infect Laurie. Oh, that reminds me Michael, how *is* Miss Dupree doing?"

"Umm - well enough. I guess I'll need to give her a call soon," Michael muttered. "But - is it time?"

"It is indeed." Larek stood up. "It's been good to see you all. Until next time, which - I suspect won't be here in Roswell." And with that, he turned and left the way that he'd come. After about a minute, we heard a car engine starting up and racing away.

"Wow," Max breathed. "So..."

"I want to go," Maria said, surprising me by declaring it first, if not with what she had decided. "Obviously, it's a big decision, and we have to leave time for all of what we've heard today to sink in, but... but I propose we set a timeline, to keep anybody from, well, from dragging their feet about it. The day before school starts again, maybe. That'll be after Mom's wedding."

"And it's only around a week and a half," Liz protested. "Rushing much?"

"Maybe." And Maria looked up at Michael. "But I think that it makes a kind of sense. Better to make a clean break before we're sucked into senior year, and it's a good line to draw in the sand that can't be pushed back further."

"Maybe not a big surprise, but I'm with my lady," Michael admitted. "Everything that Larek said about how the Antarian situation was good for us to make our move - that might change at some point soon. If he's obviously at a disadvantage, with his throne at risk, then Kivar's probably already working on some way to force a reversal and come out on top. We can't let him complete whatever that scheme is."

"I'm inclined to go with that, as a tentative timetable," Max said. "If anybody can come up with a compelling rationale by then for why it makes sense and is in the best interest of all of us to delay further, then we can consider it."

"You mean, YOU'LL consider it," Isabel answered calmly. Max turned around to look at her. "I didn't mean that as a criticism, except possibly at the hint of hypocrisy. Max, you are going to make the final decision, when it comes to the Granilith. You've been acting protective of it ever since... I found it, and I don't begrudge you that. That thing is important, and... and you're probably a better person to take on the responsibility of it upon yourself than I am. It's important enough that the final decision can't be left up to a committee. You'll do your best to be fair to everybody, and consider different opinions, strive for consensus... but in the end, it's your duty. You know that. We all know that, and it's no good pretending that things are any different."

Max squirmed slightly under his sister's matter-of-fact appraisal. "Ava was the one who had the key," he said. "She volunteered to put it at our disposal, but still, that implies that she should have some say in..."

"No, sorry Max," Ava said. "The key is just a formality - no good without a lock to put it in, and that was left here with you. In point of fact, I think that I should be leaving it in your custody from now on. We'll take care of that later tonight or tomorrow."

Max looked around at all of us, as if he was expecting someone else to protest this position of power that Isabel had nominated him into, but nobody did. "Alright. So, after the wedding and reception are over, later that night or the next morning, we meet and discuss the situation. If the launch countdown is not pushed back for any reason, then we... sorry, force of habit." He nodded meaningfully towards Isabel. "Then *I* use the key and set the Granilith to launch, with a programmed landing in North Tilles. Whoever wants to go, gets their things ready and shows up twenty-four hours later."

"We still can't mess around with that timeline?" Michael muttered.

"Countdown can be aborted up to about fifteen minutes in advance," Max admitted. "But I want to leave that for a last-resort scenario."

"I think I'd rather leave on Monday morning than late Sunday night, which suggests that we should meet the day after the wedding, Sunday morning," Maria suggested. "Labor day, I guess. Why did you want to make the final decision AFTER the reception, anyway, Max?"

"I dunno." He shrugged. "Just seemed that it was just possible something would happen at the wedding or at the party that might change everything around on us. Stranger things have happened, here in Roswell."

"Yeah, a stranger might show up, a REALLY strange stranger," Liz put in. "Okay... well, I'd better get home."

"Okay, I'll drive," Max said.

"But I need to change clothes first," she said, kissing him and giggling.

TO BE CONTINUED...


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

(Isabel):

I held Alex's arm closely and looked around at the colors of the botanical garden in late summer, wondering at the same time how long it would be before Missus DeLuca started down the aisle.

The past week or so has been relatively quiet - spending a lot of time with Alex, of course, and the rest of our friends. My parents were bugging me about what my plans were for after summer ended, so I made a few calls, and one of the ladies who was involved with the Christmas hunger drive put me in touch with the Roswell homeless shelter. After Labour Day, I'll be volunteering with them four days a week, and that news has pretty much got Dad off my back. I also applied to take some classes at the junior college just outside of town, starting in January, but I haven't heard back about that yet.

Alex and I have really settled on our decision, too... it'll be weird for me if a lot of the gang really does go through with leaving, but - but there's just no way I can face going off to Antar at this point. Not with the Vilandra thing hanging over my good name there. Max and Michael told me that they understand, and they'll see what they can do to sort it out when they get there, so that maybe, if I want to, I can go later. (Assuming that we can scrape up another interstellar ride.) Tess hasn't said it out loud, but I kind of get the impression that she's a bit disappointed in me, that she wishes it were all four of us arriving at once.

But then again, it wouldn't be JUST the royal four, and we're not sure if the Granilith could carry four plus three significant others. Right now the roster is five - Max and Liz told us that yes, they'd made their mind to go, yesterday before the rehearsal dinner...

Oh, and right then the music started up, or changed from whatever 'waiting music' the string quartet had been playing. Here comes the bride, now. (A bit cliche by now, but whatever, it's her big day.) I squeezed Alex more closely, and a few tears slipped out of my eyes, just because Missus DeLuca and Mister Valenti made such a pretty couple today.

So quickly, it seemed, the elegant and timeless ceremony was done, the bride had been kissed, and Max and Liz came up to Alex and me where we sat. (Max had been a few rows further forward, and Liz had been standing up as one of the bridesmaids.) "Okay, you guys ready to leave for the reception?"

"Sure I guess," Alex said.

"No, remember honey?" I said, and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "We promised to stay behind and help with the clean-up. Folding up and stacking chairs, that sort of thing."

"Oh, right."

"We can help with that too," Max pointed out. In fact, once we started, pretty much the whole gang pitched in, and it wasn't long until everything was loaded up onto the rental truck. Alex and I rode in the back of the Jeep, which we had when coming out to the wedding site as well, so that Liz could sit up in front.

"They looked so much in love for their big moment," Liz said, and sighed softly. "I'm happy for them."

"Yeah, me too," Alex agreed. "Even if this does mean that we're one step closer to you guys leaving. I... I don't know what I'm going to do without you and Maria being around, Liz."

"Oh, I think that you'll find some way of managing," Liz shot back, chuckling. "Kyle is definitely turning out to be a good friend, isn't he? And you'll have a certain someone to console you and not leave you lacking for female company..."

"Yeah, but it's not quite the same thing," Alex replied. I bumped my knee into his, not gently or hard enough to hurt either. "Oh, come on, sweetie, you know what I mean, right? Having me around, as great as it is, won't be enough to keep you from missing Max and Michael, now is it? Very different sort of roles we play in your life."

"Hmm... okay, yeah, I'll give you credit for that," I admitted. "On the other hand, maybe if we have to, we'll just become much closer friends as well as boyfriend and girlfriend."

"Yeah," Liz put in. "As long as Alex doesn't end up substituting for Max in another sense."

Alex kicked her chair from behind, and I had to put in, "No, there's *no* chance of my ever seeing him like that. Once you're out of here, Max, I have no brother."

"Ooh, break my heart," he muttered.

-------------

The wedding reception was one of those things that make you see someplace completely familiar in a very different light. On the whole, I really couldn't think of a better place for this celebration than the Crashdown dining room, even though I don't think I've ever been to any kind of private party there before.

I had Venusi hen and interstellar tubers for my main course, and after Jim and Amy had cut the wedding cake, the cleared-out space in the front was quickly full of couples trying to dance together. I leaned my head against Alex's shoulder as we swayed together, and tried to soak up the memory, wanting to remember this forever. Not so much because of Alex - it was nice being here with him, but I knew that we'd have chances to make lots more memories together. But this was one of the last times that the whole gang would be together, and... and the talk about it was making me feel maudlin and depressed, I had to admit. Feeling Alex's arms wrapped around me helped.

I didn't really understand most of what Mister Blackwood was talking about in his Best man toast to the happy couple - probably most of it was talking about stuff that us kids hadn't been around for. Maria's little speech for her mom was really funny... talking about the time that she and Liz nearly walked in on the happy couple having a bit of 'dessert,' among other things. Once the wedding cake was mostly taken care of, Michael started rounding all nine of us up - oh, actually, it was ten, because Laurie had showed up about halfway through the reception and given her congratulations to Valenti, and said hi to Amy, who'd only met her once before.

"Okay, so we head out of town now?" Michael asked.

"Will this cake keep?" Ava said, waving a wrapped piece. "Or should I take it by home beforehand?"

"Wedding cake can survive just about anything," Max told her. "It's tougher than Twinkies."

"I just thought of something," Liz whispered back. "If the launch countdown is twenty-four hours, then - well, we'll launch around the same time of day as we put the key in."

"Well, yeah," Maria said. "Your point being?"

"Do - do we really want to blast something like this off late in the evening? Seems like that would be just about the best time for somebody to notice it - dark enough that it'll show up well against the night sky, and not late enough that nearly everybody will have gone to bed."

"Hmm... that's a good point, actually," Tess admitted grudgingly. "So we want the opposite, I guess - after the sun rises, but early enough that not many people have really woken up yet."

"I think so, yeah," Michael agreed. "Which means I guess that we should be going to bed early - those of us who want to be there to set the countdown off, at least."

"But not quite yet," Maria argued. "We - we need to do something fun tonight, just us."

"Alright, any suggestions?" Liz put in.

"Just go back to Michael's place, watch pizza and eat a movie?" Ava said, and then we all started laughing. "I mean..."

"Yeah, we know honey," Kyle said. "And... no, not something like that. How about an outdoor bonfire?"

"Takes a long time to get something like that organized, and plenty of effort," I said. "Think about it."

"Bowling?" Alex suggested. Somebody groaned. "Come on, guys, this may be the last time you can ever go bowling... think about it."

"Actually, I'll support this, more because it's quicker than arguing further than on account of Alex's argument," Max put in, smiling.

"Oh, I've had enough of bowling back home," Laurie said, but it was obvious that the tide had somehow turned in favor of the suggestion in spite of her objection.

"You'll have to tell us more about that, then," Michael told her as we headed out.

-------------

(Isabel):

"Okay, so have you thought about what you'll tell... people?" Ava asked me as we drove north along that big road. Two eighty-five. "Your parents, specifically. Kids at school, and so on?"

"Well, yeah," I said, taking Alex's hand. "We've talked about it some..." Ava's face fell, and I wondered if she was upset at not being part of that talk. But - well, it wasn't like she had parents or would be going to school. "Just a few of the gang. For Max and Michael, there's a built-in explanation with some credibility. Even partially true."

"Hmm." Ava considered that for a longer moment than I'd have thought she'd need, but hey - it was early in the morning, and maybe she wanted to think of some of the implications before speaking up. "That they headed off to look for their birth parents? That sort of thing." I waited a second to see if she'd say anything else, then nodded. "Might be hard on the folks, thinking that they weren't good enough for Max anymore."

"Yeah, well... at the adoptive parents support group they don't know we know they go to, they say not to think about it in those terms," I countered. "Admittedly, having a kid run away from home abruptly isn't what they call 'a best case scenario' - but in our case, going to Mom and Dad for help tracking our roots down isn't going to help."

"Okay, so let's see," Ava said. "Tess could be on a similar story - not her father, because as far as anyone around here is concerned, Ed was her Dad, and he... well, he just 'disappeared', so she might think that he didn't really run into foul play and she can find him. Or the mother who's somewhat mysteriously missing from her cover story."

"Except that her mom's supposed to be *your* mom, Ava," Alex pointed out. "Isn't that the way you spun it when you came to town? The 'twins separated when very young in the split' story?"

"Oh, umm... yeah, I guess so," Ava admitted. "Well, I guess in those terms, I could have told her where Mom was last." I nodded. "And Liz and Maria - are along because the guys are going, more or less."

"Yeah, that's about the size of it," I said. "Once they're well away, I'll probably mention the Michael/Maria engagement thing - it'll add nicely to the tale." I sighed. "And we still need to sort out what car they're supposedly leaving town in, and 'take care' of it."

"Why?" Ava asked. "Oh - because if there aren't any wheels missing, then people might start to wonder what else really happened?"

"Yeah," Alex agreed. "Isabel's dad is a pretty... determined guy, and he knows how to find a private detective through his work. If we tried to dump a vehicle in some conventional way, it might get found."

And just at this point, we got to Pod Chamber hill, Alex parked and talked with Ava about cars and Kyle on the way up. By the time we were up to the chamber door, I realized that Alex was curious about Ava's relationship with young Mister Valenti, and I didn't really mind hearing the little bit of dirt that Ava let slip, myself.

We're all that's going to be left of the gang tomorrow. That thought frightened me enough to make me shiver at that moment.

Ava opened the door into the chamber, and I brought up the rear behind Alex. From the Jeep parked at the bottom of the hill, I could guess that there'd be people waiting for us inside the Granilith chamber, but I wasn't sure who had been riding with Max. Wasn't too surprised to see Liz, Maria, and Michael there.

"Okay, so, let's see..." Max seemed to do a silent roll call in his head after he saw who we were. "Are we waiting for Tess, or Kyle?"

"What about Laurie?" Ava asked.

"She's sleeping in," Michael put in. "Little doubt that we're really related."

"No," Maria agreed, but she seemed to feel like she needed to excuse the other girl. "Flying here on her own was hard for her, and she and Michael were up talking for hours after we left the bowling alley."

"Oh," Alex's face fell a little. "I was hoping that we'd see more of Laurie around here, but if it's a traumatic experience for her to travel by herself..."

"Well, I guess you'll work that out," Maria said. "Not sure it isn't something that she can get used to easily." Alex and I nodded, appreciating the point, and then there was a silent moment. "Hmm." Maria looked into her engagement ring and concentrated.

"What's she up to?" I had to wonder aloud.

"You remember the trick I told you Lonnie could do with that ring?" Ava said.

"Oh." The gem was really an alien artifact, and my worse half had been able to spy out her surroundings beyond a straight line of sight with it. I'd even experimented with it a bit myself after Michael first took it from her, but after he asked Maria to marry him and gave her the ring - well, for a long time he hadn't wanted her to try using it in case that hurt the baby, and after she lost the baby I'd forgotten that it was anything other than an engagement ring...

"There's a third car down there," Maria said in a hoarse whisper, and... and they're half way up the hill. Tess and Kyle, both of them."

"Come on," Michael told her, his eyes twinkling. "Let's see if we can open the door just before Tess is about to handprint it and startle them."

That idea didn't work out so well, because Maria wasn't able to keep up the spying for so long, and Michael was late enough on the timing that Tess thought she'd actually opened the door herself, and was just surprised by the two of them 'lurking there.'

"Come on, time's getting on," Max called from inside, and soon all nine of us were gathered around. "Anybody feel like they need to say anything beforehand?"

"You're the fearless leader, Maxwell," Michael heckled irrepressibly. "If anybody's going to make with the speechifying, it should be yourself."

"Hmm." Maxwell considered that, and then slid the key into some spot in the wall without a sound, and let his hand hover over it for several seconds. Parts of the wall brightened, and turned into a display that was clearly a complicated countdown. "Alright, we have twenty-four hours. Everyone understands that, right?"

"Exactly," Liz breathed, staring at the Granilith. "I mean, I could understand the Granilith adjusting to one spin of the planet earth, but - it's counting off in seconds, and there are sixty circles there, and twenty-four longer bars. How does it know our conventions so well?"

"Could have been programmed into it way back when the Pod chamber was made," Alex pointed out. "Our units of measurement haven't changed in all those years, and the shape shifters could have found out about those easily enough."

"Yeah, I guess so," Liz said. "Okay, first minute is about to count off, I think." Sure enough, the moving spot for 'seconds' finished its first lap, and one of the 'minute circles' blinked and went out. It didn't look anything like a traditional Earth clock, but as Liz said, there was no doubt that it was using Earth time.

"So, it's our last day on the planet, officially," Tess said. "Any plans?"

"I think I need to take a nap," Liz said. "I couldn't get much sleep last night either."

"Okay," Max said, stepping close to her and draping an arm across her shoulders. "I'll get you home okay."

So the people who were leaving started talking about what they needed to do to get ready, and Kyle suggested throwing a big farewell party that night at Michael's place.

------------

(Liz):

I must tell you, that at this point in the narrative, I'm sorely tempted to trade on poetic license and give you a subjective experience of what I went through. I could tell you what it was like to meet up with Max and the rest of my friends at the Pod Chamber that one last time, to get my molecules transferred into the Granilith and wait out the final seconds before the launch. I'd love to describe in detail as that strange, alien silver cone blasted off the surface of the Earth, up into orbital space without even waiting to circle the planet a few times, and rocket through the Solar system heading away from the sun. It entered the mystery of 'warp space' quickly, at which point the five of us who'd come along relaxed in a sort of interior cabin, and marked off the time until we reached the Antarian home world.

Let's see - what else? There was the landing, the explanations, and meeting with new family of Rath, and Zan, and Ava, first conferences with leaders of the Rebel army and plans. We had to travel quickly across the continent in a rough ground vehicle something a bit like an Army Hummer, while the Granilith was towed, with Max's permission, to another hiding place for its safety and ours. Over that period, we started to learn the local language better from our driver and guards, and all sorts of things about Antarian society and history, especially about what had happened since their genetic samples had first been sent towards Earth.

Once that trip was over, we were settled into a cozy and highly defensible castle in a rolling valley, which reminded me of an iceberg in that about eighty percent of it was buried well out of sight under the ground. There were more meetings with different rebel experts and military officers, and Max, Michael, and Tess started to take day-trips and longer excursions at their request. I don't think that any of the Antarians really knew what to do with Maria or myself.

It was one of those days that I remember watching from a kind of battlement balcony as a convoy of vehicles drove up the road towards the castle. The weather was even hotter and dryer than the Roswellian late August that we left, and I was starting to get used to the greenish clouds in the purple sky. As the first car was parking and several Antarian soldiers spread out from it into an honor guard, I spotted Tess' blonde hair in the middle vehicle, and then Max next to her. I was so excited that they were back, that I waved and called from the edge, and Max looked up at me and nodded. Tess made an exaggerated 'safe' gesture from a baseball umpire's repertoire, and I took that to mean that I should stay where I was, because that's what you do when you're safe on base in the game. So I hung around, and in a few minutes, Max and Tess came in, huffing and puffing from all the stairs that they'd had to climb so quickly... and both with very serious faces on. I could tell immediately that Max had something to tell me that he didn't especially want to say, and that he knew I wouldn't want to hear.

The notion hit me immediately, but I couldn't make myself believe it immediately. Max said that he and Tess had been to one of the Royal estates where Zan and Ava had spent time; that they'd had another intimate moment like the one at the junior prom that I'd walked into, and were remembering more of their old connection. He said that he still loved me, but was falling for Tess too, and he had no idea what to do about it except for us to take a break and all three of us to see what happened.

Okay, I've been on this tack for most of a page, and I hope you don't hate me too much for it. I could have gone for at least a chapter on this material, describing every little detail, because that's how vividly I still remember it all. But this seems like the right balance between explaining things as they happened to me, and not being too deceptive - because they didn't REALLY happen. It was just as things were starting to sink in, and I was trying to decide between throwing a temper tantrum or just breaking down and crying... that I woke up in my own bed, in the apartment above the Crashdown Cafe, in Roswell. It was the day before Max and I were supposed to leave, and all of that stuff I just described had been a vivid dream or nightmare, as I caught up on sleep from having been up nearly the whole night before.

I thought about that dream as I got back up and showered, and as Alex drove me over to Michael's place to help get ready for the 'Last day on earth' party. Didn't even mention it to him, but what I'd experienced in my sleep preoccupied me. As upsetting as the last scene had been, I didn't really believe that it could ever happen if I went with Max. Maybe way back when, around the time of the Junior Prom, I'd have been worried. But Max had shown that even after an 'intimate moment' with Tess, he wouldn't stray from me in his heart, and I didn't think that was likely to change just because we went to another planet. But... but it was hard to deny that a nightmare like that was probably about anxiety to do with the launch, and I probably needed to figure out what was really bothering me before we left.

Nobody worked too hard on the party stuff, and I remember joking around with Tess while we went through Michael's DVD collection, looking for something that a good fraction of the gang would be happy with watching. She really had become a friend, as unlikely as that had seemed at the start of the summer, never mind last year when she first came to Roswell, and I did wonder how going to Antar with her would change our relationship. For Maria and myself, she would be the only other Earthborn girl that we could talk to, and yet... the distinction of being half alien, or mysteriously royal, might loom larger between us once we were around her people, like I'd pictured it in the dream. Max would still care just as deeply for me, even if the Antarians didn't understand why he had brought some human girl along with him, and the same would hold true for Michael and Maria. But would they really be busy with things that we wouldn't be allowed to participate in directly??

And then the rest of the guests of honor started to show up, and the party got into swing. Kyle brought out some alcohol, and Ava brewed up some 'Antarian brew' for the hybrids who couldn't handle that - it was an unusual process involving mashed-up bananas, and boiled water, and chocolate milk syrup and a few other ingredients I can't remember, a frying pan and a double-saucepan. I wouldn't have drunk under other circumstances - even after all the lying to parents and secrecy, I've kept up my principles on alcohol since getting to know Max. (Experimented with it a bit when I was dating Kyle, way back when.) But this was to be our last night on Earth, and suddenly it didn't seem to be such a bad thing to get uninhibited and slightly numb. There was a lot of sharing of regrets, and people made mostly-sincere exchanges of favors with the people who would be ending up on a different planet when it was all done, and Max tried to make a goodbye message for his parents, but always kept mispronouncing stuff or breaking out laughing at inappropriate times.

Speaking of inappropriate, well... Max and I started making out on the couch, and it got hotter and hotter. I didn't realize that anybody was paying attention, but Michael called out the moment that Max got to third base, and tried to start a cheer going. I... I ran into the bathroom, feeling humiliated, and it took fifteen minutes for anybody to talk me out.

------------

(Maria):

"Oh, no," I groaned as consciousness returned. I was mostly naked, curled up against an apparently all-naked Michael. Yeah, right, poor poor pitiful me. But that wasn't my biggest worry, a possible morning after regret. No -- I turned around, looking for his little LED display clock radio, and fought against the first stirrings of panic.

"Michael, wake up, honey," I said, prodding him as vigorously as I could without having to worry too much about setting off his counter-attack reflex. (Yes, I did get into trouble with that once - it was last fall, before we had gone all the way - he'd asked me to stay over and just sleep, because - well, that was a long story. But when I woke him up for school, he managed to throw me a few feet across the room before clueing in that I wasn't a skin of a killer dupe or some other sort of evil alien. Never mind.) "We've slept too late, and we cannot, cannot, CAN NOT be late for this flight? Do you know what I'm saying?"

His eyes flew wide open. "Yeah, I'm up," he announced, just before trying to rise to his butt and half-succeeding. He got a glimpse of the LED, and then tried to stand and got a sort of nervous crouch instead. But his voice was anything but tentative. "Hello, gang!" he called loudly. "Time is short, and we need to move out RIGHT now. There will be no time for packing, other than to grab luggage that has already been prepared, no changing, no use of the bathroom, and no stops along the way. And by all the stars, Max, Liz, Tess, you'd better still be here, because I am *not* going to chase you down at this point. Do I make myself clear?"

For a second, there was no reply, and I started to feel worried. "Maybe they already cleared out and left us to sleep?" I mumbled, but I didn't really believe it. We'd have gotten a wake-up call before this, wouldn't we, at the very least? If anybody was in shape to deliver one...

"AM I UNDERSTOOD?" Michael roared again, heading towards the door.

"You're, umm... you're presuming a lot, soldier," Max said sleepily from outside. "But, urrgh, the point is well taken. Come on, people, wake up, time's a-wasting."

"I just have one question, Spaceboy," I muttered. "Does 'no changing' include 'no dressing'? Because I think that the trip would be very fun if we have to go to another star with you like that, but..."

He looked down, seemed to notice the full Michael for the first time, and shook his head with a soft growl. "No. *No changing* means no taking off clothes that you do already have on," he clarified, loud enough to be heard outside our room.

I don't think that we stuck entirely to Michael's rules, mostly because there are certain limits beyond which you simply cannot hurry people in the process of waking up and getting ready to go and face the outside world, even in a situation like this, so while the last of the crew were waking, several people did use the bathroom, and I threw some of Michael's things into his bag for him. But we left the apartment in something like ten minutes from the first look I had at the clock, which was pretty good, and the place was a total mess. I felt sorry for the building superintendent if none of our friends ever came back to help clean it up. But that really wasn't anything that he, or I, could worry about this point.

As we charged out of Roswell into the desert twilight, having made no stops indeed on the way out of town, I thought about trying to get a bit more of a nap in the seat next to Michael, and then realized that I was way too keyed up to even close my eyes. Over the past eleven months since Michael had first shown me the Pod chamber, I actually hadn't been that often, but it did seem very appropriate that this would be our last road trip from Roswell, or at least, the last for the foreseeable future. It might be hard to find our way back to Earth, but I did not want to give up the idea of heading back... at some time. But right now, I had to admit that I was pretty excited, (and nervous,) about leaving.

As it happened I was in the back of Tess' SUV, along with Michael and Ava, with Kyle riding shotgun up in the front. Isabel and Alex, Max and Liz had gone in the Jeep of course. Once the SUV had been 'disposed of', Isabel and Alex, Kyle and Ava would be riding back in the Jeep. Laurie was sleeping through the whole thing once again - it was a bit disappointing to not get her a better goodbye, but she wasn't used to this kind of a schedule, and she'd had a lot of Kyle's rum punch last night. (I felt my own head buzzing with a bit of a hangover too, but somehow it didn't detract from the sense of specialness around everything.)

"So when you get to Antar, is the Granilith already locked into that place that you have to go to?" Kyle asked Tess nervously. "North Tacoma or wherever?"

"I don't think it was an available option yet, but we'll take care of it after the launch, honey," she told him tensely. "Nobody's going to forget about that part, not when the alternative is landing someplace where Kivar can capture us all."

"No, I guess not," I agreed. "How are we doing on time before the launch?"

"It's going to be tight, with the climb and everything, but okay," Michael said. "There'll probably even be time for everyone to gather in the Granilith chamber and watch us go aboard."

"How does that work, again?" Kyle asked. "Does it open a door and you can climb in?"

"No, not really," Ava said. "There's no space in the Granilith for passengers while it's in real space, it's solid, but it's capable of holding living molecules in suspension. Max, Michael, and Tess will use their powers to separate their molecules, and Liz's and Maria's, and they'll sort of transport inside like on Star Trek or whatever."

"Alright," I muttered.

"Is there something else that we're forgetting?" Kyle asked, still shifting nervously.

"Probably, but I don't think that it's anything important," Tess said. "Right now, making sure that we go is the important thing. Everything else will work itself out."

None of us really had anything to add to that.

-----------

Both cars parked in the usual place at the bottom of Pod Chamber hill, (with help from their respective drivers,) and we charged up as one stream of teenagers, without many words spoken at first. It was maybe three fifths of the way up when that changed in another of those moments that change everything. Liz turned to Max and blurted out, "I can't do this. Sorry, honey, but I can't go!"

"We're on the clock!" Michael called out. "Say your piece when we get up to the chamber."

"No, I need to say it now," Liz insisted. "While I think the words are still in order."

"Yeah, okay," Tess agreed, and so we slowed down, still climbing, but also listening.

"Max, sweetie," Liz said, and she reached up to stroke his cheek with her hand. "I love you SO much. If I let it, my love for you could become my whole world, everything that matters to me. But... but this doesn't really seem to be the right time for that. Because - because where you have to go, there are going to be other responsibilities, other important things that you have to do. There's almost literally going to be another world resting on your shoulders, and you're not going to be able to make me your first priority." I was somewhat surprised to hear a sob escape from Liz. "And - and if I went on the Granilith with you, that would be what you'd have to do, to keep me from resenting you, for inspiring me to leave my family, everything else on the Earth that I knew, behind... all your attention. I *know* that I can't fairly ask you for that, so - so the only way out, the only solution, is to stay here and..."

"Ssh," Max said, stopping and embracing her. We all waited - Michael and Tess and I were unwilling to go further ahead without Max. "I think that I understand... can't say that I'm not disappointed, but I don't hold this against you. But... I'll come back here and look for you when I can. It may take me a while... but *I will always come for you.*"

A ripple of appreciation went through the entire group as he quoted Westley from 'The Princess Bride.' "Death might not stop true love," Liz breathed back in a whisper, "but don't you dare die over there, kay?"

"Wouldn't even think of it," Max said. "As long as you don't agree to marry some evil prince... or anybody, really, that'd be good."

"I think that I can agree to that, yeah," Liz said, nodding, and looked around. "This scene - I think that I saw this coming, in a flash, long ago. Didn't realize what it would be about, at the time, but all of us here, on this path, I saw it while kissing you, back when we got back together after the prom." She turned around behind her. "Even you, Ava, and this was well before you came back."

"Cool," Ava agreed, without that much enthusiasm.

"Okay," Max said, after kissing Liz emphatically and letting her go. "Time's getting close enough that I don't think it's the best idea for anybody not boarding to go all the way up to the chamber. We can have our goodbyes now and be okay, but not too long, right?"

I took my cue and rushed past him to hug Liz. "Sorry that you won't be coming along, I'd have loved to have my best friend with me," I said, "but I do understand." She nodded and went 'uh-huh.' "Alex, Kyle, girls... you take good care of my BFF for me, right? It... well, it's going to be hard for her at the start. I can just tell."

"You can count on us," Alex said. "Best of luck with the Antarians."

"Thanks." I hugged him too, and waited to give Isabel a hug after Michael and Max were through with her, and then we were out of time, and I hurried further up the pathway, waving into space ahead of me, knowing that those behind would still see the gesture and know that it was meant for them.

Tess hurried on ahead just enough to open up the door by the time the rest of us got to the Pod Chamber, and Max led us on towards the Granilith. The countdown was just ticking past two minutes as we got there, and I heard Michael breathe a sigh of relief that we had that much of a window.

"I wonder what'll happen to the Pods when we launch?" I muttered. It wasn't a new thought, but we hadn't been able to figure out how much of an effect the blast would have on what was left behind - which was why our friends were staying a safe distance away from the mountain peak. Max ignored me, went up to the Granilith cone, and started to concentrate while touching it. I sort of expected him to fuzz away into a swirl of color, or maybe float into the Granilith as his outline grew hazier, but it wasn't like that. His body, and the little bag that he'd been carrying, vanished in a bright flash, and at first I was worried that something had gone wrong. But then I could see a picture of him in the reflection from the Granilith, and realized that he was already inside. Tess went too, and I fought back a surge of jealousy at the thought of the two of them being together with Liz staying behind - Liz had made her choice, and Max had made his when it came to Tess. His heart belonged to Liz, and it would stay hers no matter how long they were apart.

Michael came up behind me. "Are you ready?" he asked in a low voice.

"Yeah, just hoping that the Granilith language stuff works alright, and we'll be able to talk to people when we get there." All of a sudden that made a mental connection, and I nearly staggered. "When we get there... I know what's going to happen. I remember it - from that night that we were together, up at the make out point. The night that we conceived our daughter, maybe. How we meet your cousin, and Alinda's personal aide or whatever, and Max comes up the stairs with a little Antarian nephew or some relation like that..."

"Yeah, I know about all of that too," Michael said. "Ever since we woke up this morning. Wasn't sure how to explain it to you."

"You knew..." I breathed.

"Remember this one thing - it's very important," he told me.

"What?"

"No matter what - look as if you're surprised by everything."

I paused a moment, then laughed and kissed him, and with that, Spaceboy used his powers, and we were kissing inside the Granilith...

Three, two, one... TAKEOFF!!

THE END


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